Ampleforth College

The Ampleforth & Ryedale Concert Choir

The Ampleforth & Ryedale Concert Choir was founded in 2004 as an adult choir comprising members of staff at Ampleforth, parents and friends, supported by students from the College. The original choir also comprised of students from Cardinal Heenan School, Leeds, as part of a government sponsored partnership between Ampleforth and that school. When the partnership ended, provision was made for the choir to continue as part of the extensive outreach programme projected by the College Music Department. Until this year, it gave a performance once every summer term in Ampleforth Abbey Church.  The group is usually accompanied by an orchestra of highly skilled professionals and semi professionals and soloists are drawn from all over the country as well as from the College.  The choir is funded by subscriptions and through sponsorship.  In recent years, we have been very fortunate to secure sponsorship from Angus and Ross, Denison Till, and the Consultants Eye Surgeons Partnership (York). This year, the choir will be making their debut in the Ryedale Festival, with a performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle which will be given with soloists of international repute in the Joan of Arc Hall, Botton Village.

The choir is directed by William Dore, who is Assistant Director of Music at the College, and Abbey Organist. His philosophy is that everyone in the choir is important, to the extent that their ability to blend with other voices, work as a tea.  Parts of the weekly rehearsals are spent on improving vocal technique and projection through warming up exercises, and to promoting a culture of careful listening to other voice parts to achieve real unity of sound and good intonation. There will be more recording sessions, one each term to document some of the choir’s on-going work (usually a cappella). These sessions are excellent opportunities to focus very carefully on the choir members’ critical awareness when playing back the recordings.  It is William’s ambition that the choir will continue to grow in the coming years, and to be able to tackle some of the more extended works of the choral repertoire with augmented orchestral forces. This will depend largely on the size of the choir and financial considerations, so the choir is always looking for new sponsors.

The Audio clip is of Lauridsen’s setting of O Magnum Mysterium recorded in March 2011.

He is always interested to hear from people who would like to join the choir. Although there are no formal auditions, members are expected to have some reading ability and a good ear. The rehearsals take place on Tuesday evenings during term time at the College, and William can be contacted by email (wjd@ampleforth.org.uk).

Past Events

2005: Vivaldi Gloria, Britten St Nicolas Cantata
2006: Mozart Missa brevis et Solemnis, Durufle Requiem
2007: Britten Rejoice in the Lamb, Bernstein Chichester Psalms
2008: Mozart Requiem Ave Verum corpus
2009: Monteverdi Vespers
2010: Handel: Dettingen Te Deum and other works
          Ryedale Festival Eucharist

2011

Stainer: Crucifixion  Sunday 17 April (Palm Sunday) 16:00 All Saints’ Church, Helmsley
Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle  19  July 19:00 (as part of the Ryedale Festival) at Botton Village
Advent Concert. Saturday 5 December 19:30 (venue tbc)