About the Choir

The Southport Bach Choir is a mixed voice choir of around 50 singers giving several concerts a year, mostly in Holy Trinity Church, Southport. Performances often include professional soloists and may be accompanied by organ, orchestra or instrumental ensemble.

We also enjoy being involved in other projects.  For example, in June 2024, we travelled to Leipzig to perform three cantatas at the Bach Festival (Nikolaikirche) along with orchestra and soloists.

The Choir and the Community

We are keen to attract both new members and new audiences and with this in mind we explore occasions for performing outside Southport and varying our repertoire, as well as being available for private bookings.

Weddings and Funerals

We are happy to provide a small group to sing at weddings, funerals, or other events. If you are interested in booking a group of singers please contact our Secretary on 01704 535868 or secretary@southportbachchoir.uk.

Come and Sing events

We organise ‘Come and Sing’ events each year. The atmosphere is a stimulating combination of informality and serious fun, with lunch and home-made cakes, which have become an institution. We particularly welcome singers who are not experienced in choral singing to join us for a workshop designed to emphasize the fun side of choral singing as well as the discipline of performing in public.

Social Events

Fund-raising and social events are also part of the choir’s life. We have held music marathons, garden parties, jumble sales, musical soirées, and we welcome ideas from members for ways of raising funds and at the same time having fun.

A Brief History of the Southport Bach Choir

The Southport Bach Choir was founded (under the name Southport Bach Society) in 1965 by David Bowman, who was at the time organist and choir master at Holy Trinity Church, Southport. When he left in 1970 to join the staff at Ampleforth College, his position in both roles was taken by the late David Williams.

Under the two Davids the choir built up a repertoire that included music from the 16th to the 20th centuries, including choral classics by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Britten, Fauré, Vaughan Williams, as well as many lesser known pieces. The full extent of this repertoire can be seen from the List of Works Performed.

When David Williams retired in 2008 he was succeeded by Ian Wells (former Assistant Organist at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral), who expanded the choir’s repertoire still further with pieces by Vaughan Williams, Holst and Poulenc. From 2012 to 2016 the choir’s Director of Music was Ian Crawford, whose distinctive approach blended  vitality and enjoyment with thoughtful choral interpretation. Under his direction there  was an increased emphasis on a capella works in concert programmes. In 2016 he was succeeded by Marc Murray, who has had experience of conducting school and adult choirs, and is bringing yet another approach to the choir. He is particularly keen for  the choir to think about the meaning of the (sometimes rather complex) texts they have to sing.

In 2025 we celebrate our 60th anniversary year with a performance of Mendelssohn’s great oratorio Elijah.

Networking

The choir is a member of Making Music, the UK’s leading organisation for amateur music making.