Hull Choral Union was founded in 1929.
Hull Choral Union was founded in 1929 as a result of the amalgamation of two local musical societies, Hull Harmonic Society and Hull Vocal Society. The choir quickly established a strong reputation and has enjoyed performing a variety of choral music in Hull and the surrounding area ever since.
Below is a selection of our past concert programmes through the decades (click to enlarge).
We perform an ever-extending repertoire from the great oratorios to contemporary works.
Each season typically consists of an autumn and a spring concert and a Christmas performance. This could be, for example, all or part of Handel’s Messiah and a family carol concert. Since 2017 we have a tradition of performing the Messiah by candlelight.
The Voices Across the Humber concert was one of the many occasions on which Hull Choral Union has collaborated with other choirs and conductors.
We were part of the massed choirs in Hull Philharmonic’s performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony or Symphony of a Thousand which took place in 1999 to celebrate the millennium. We joined with Lincoln Choral Society to perform Verdi’s Requiem in Hull City Hall in 2015 and Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Lincoln Minster in 2019. We take part in city wide events for example the Sing as One concert in 2015 and the City of Hull Youth Orchestra’s performance of Holst’s Planet Suite and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances in 2017. These concerts arose from the Singing City Hull initiative which aims to involve people of all ages and abilities in singing.
We performed the world première of ‘Bridge for the Living’ by Anthony Hedges.
This photograph accompanied an article in the Hull Daily Mail following the première of Bridge For The Living in April 1981. From left: Dr S Hainsworth, Anthony Hedges, Alan Spedding, Philip Larkin, George Follett (with kind permission from the Hull Daily Mail)
Dr SB Ainsworth CBE past President and Vice President of the Hull Choral Union, together with J H Fenner Co Ltd, sponsored the work ‘Bridge For The Living’. He commissioned Anthony Hedges to compose the music to a poem written by Philip Larkin to celebrate the opening of the Humber Bridge. The world première was performed by Hull Choral Union in April 1981 and repeated again in October 1981. The piece formed part of the Hull City of Culture joint concert Voices Across the Humber on April 1st 2017 to open the Roots and Routes season. Hull Choral Union was successful in its bid for a City of Culture community project which involved both adult and junior choirs from both banks of the Humber.
Orchestra and Soloists
We have our own orchestra composed primarily of talented local musicians and work both with national and local soloists. We are keen to attract soloists at the beginning of their careers.
A summary of out past concerts, by composer, is available here.
Below is a selection of images of promotional material from one of our earliest concerts in November 1933 (click to enlarge).
They were recently found by Harriet Lowe in a second-hand shop in Nottingham along side a copy of Gluck’s Orpheus which was used in the performance.
We are very grateful to Harriet for this rare glimpse into our early history.
