The Chorale has 50 enthusiastic singers who perform a wide range of music from the great choral classics to jazz, opera, traditional folk songs and spirituals.
The Chorale play an important role as a catalyst in broadening singing and music making in the district of Bassetlaw and the surrounding areas and enjoy working with a wide variety of professional and non-professional musicians. The choir performs with brass or string ensembles, chamber orchestras, or organ and piano or unaccompanied.
Sierra Farquhar-Wulff became our current Musical Director in September 2023. Her first concert was a joint collaboration between Ryton Chorale, Southwell Choral Society and Burton Joyce Choral Society, forming a massed choir of 200 voices and accompanied by the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra. This was performed in Southwell Minster on 18th November 2023 to critical acclaim.
Ryton Chorale first performed in 1982 at Worksop Priory. The conductor was John Catlin and there were around 40 singers.
The first Musical Director was Anthony Morgan who was with the Chorale from 1986 to 2012. He established Ryton Chorale as a choir with an unusually broad repertoire including some commissioned works.
Mark McCombs was Music Director from September 2012 to July 2013. He gave us three very successful concerts, culminating in the revival of the Last Night of the Proms in June 2013.
David Wynne became Musical Director in November 2013. He extended the Chorale’s repertoire with concerts including Brahms’ German Requiem (sung in German), Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Elgar’s Spirit of England, Bernstein Chichester Psalms, George Shearing’s Music to Hear and John Rutter’s Birthday Madrigals.
Simon Lumby took over as Music Director in January 2020 (just before the Covid-19 pandemic overtook us all). He was responsible for the ‘virtual’ recordings that we made during the time that we were locked down and his first live concert appearance with the choir was in November 2021.
The 40th year began with a special Anniversary Concert in The Crossing Church and Centre. Ryton Chorale’s president is Benjamin Frith, the international concert pianist. The composer Martin Ellerby was also a president until his retirement. He composed a celebratory work
Mass of the Winged Lion specially for the 40th Anniversary with Benjamin Frith and Heidi Rolfe on the piano.
Martin said “The intention of the work was to create a choral piece performable by good amateur choirs over an enhanced standard Latin Mass text, all broken down into a total of ten movements played at times with and without breaks.
The title, Mass of the Winged Lion, derives from the symbol of Mark the Evangelist whose remains were returned from Alexandria and interred in the Basilica of St Mark in Venice. A fifteen foot bronze statue of a winged lion stands at the top of a granite column in St Mark’s Square, Venice.
The St Mark angle also allows for a few poetic licences to be included at times, reflections or comments in the form of choral hymns, instrumental interludes, the Lord’s Prayer sung, and a recited poem, written by Lord Byron. These, hopefully, enhance the traditional structure and personalise it for performers and audience alike.”
The Chorale is available to sing at weddings and other events.