the Chantry Singers, Bath, England.

We are a small choir of 30 to 55 voices, depending on the work to be performed, founded in 1980 by its present director of music, Elizabeth Bates. Her vision was to produce a choir of musical excellence, to explore some of the less well-known works of the Baroque alongside music of other periods, particularly from the last hundred years. In other parts of this site you will be able to see the repertoire and achievements of this choir and its remarkable director.

Each year the choir promotes four public performances in some of Bath’s most beautiful venues. Audiences are drawn not just from Bath City, but from surrounding districts and further afield. In spring we invite soloists and orchestras of national and international repute to join us in our main concert. In the summer we perform a variety of music ranging from Gabrieli to Gershwin. Our Christmas concerts regularly fill the Pump Room with people and with the sounds of joyful music-making, as we try out some less familiar seasonal music.

We are the only choir in the West Country to promote its own Bach Festivals, the 6th of which took place in April 2008, and at these festivals a broad spectrum of Bach’s music is played. From comments received we know that these festivals have become landmarks in the lives of lovers of the master’s work. We are currently planning for a further festival in 2010.

We also manage to give some concerts for the benefit of charities, and in 1999 raised over £2,500 for the Julian House Night Shelter with a performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria in Bath Abbey. In May 2007 we helped to raise money through a concert in the Abbey for the benefit of St Michael's Church in Northgate, and in Summer 2008 we performed there for the first time since its splendid refurbishment.

In May 2009 we were hosts to the distinguished Canadian Choir, 'Chorus Niagara', and sang with them in the Abbey a performance of Duruflé's Requiem and choruses by Handel.  The concert raised significant funds for Julian House and Live Music Now.

In 2010 we will be performing the Monteverdi Vespers in the Abbey, and organising and promoting the choir's 7th Bach Festival in Bath.