The North Norfolk Chorale was founded as the North Walsham Choral Society in 1873 and is one of the oldest choral societies in East Anglia. There had always been a tradition of singing and drama in the town’s Fisher Theatre, which had opened in 1828 and led to the formation of the choral society some forty years later. The music of the newly formed society reflected the fashion of the period with a repertoire of madrigals, comic operas, ballads and, during the two world wars, concerts of patriotic songs were popular.
More recently the works of Handel, Brahms, Bach, Rossini, Elgar, Haydn and Faure have all featured in the repertoire of the choir. We have also performed highlights from well known opera works.
The name was changed in 1997 in order to reflect the wider catchment area of choir members and we became the North Norfolk Chorale. The choir is now a registered charity.
If you enjoy singing, and are interested in joining the choir, we would love to hear from you. Rehearsals take place from January to June for the Summer concert, and September to November for the Autumn concert, on Wednesday evenings from 7.30pm – 9.30pm in the Methodist Church, Grammar School Road, North Walsham. For more information on joining the choir, please contact our secretary, Rosemary Jackson on 01603 279541 or e-mail rosemary.a.jackson@gmail.com . We normally give two concerts a year, one in the beautiful church at Salle, which is near Reepham in North Norfolk, in early June, and an autumn concert in November at the Auden Theatre, which is located at Gresham’s school in Holt. For the last two years we have also sung a work for Holy Week in St Nicholas’ Church in North Walsham. Other choir events take place during the year.
You may wish to listen to selected excerpts from recent concerts that can be found on our YouTube page.
