Over the last forty-six years, Sherborne Chamber Choir has earned a reputation throughout the region for its wide range of repertoire, from the sixteenth century to the present day, and for the high standard of its performances.

The regular concerts here in the Abbey are always memorable and highlights are many. Anything by Bach probably tops the list, but the works of many other, and more contemporary composers also feature high on the list. Highlights have included performances of Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions with period orchestra, Messiah with soprano Emma Kirkby and a performance of James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross as part of Holy Week worship in the Abbey. Along the way, there have been performances of Handel, South American Baroque, the Monteverdi Vespers, and Praetorius’ Christmas Mass. Large-scale a cappella works have included Copland’s In the Beginning, Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater, and Britten’s A Boy was Born. Shorter works have ranged from Byrd, Tallis and Victoria, through composers such as Vaughan Williams, Finzi and Howells, to contemporary composers such as Jonathan Dove, Matthew Martin, Cecilia McDowall and Janet Wheeler, and our popular Advent programmes have introduced our audiences to a host of new music, most recently our commission from David Bednall of a setting of the Advent Antiphons.

Collaborations with other choirs have included performances with Taunton Camerata of Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and Belshazzar’s Feast in Wells Cathedral. Sherborne Young Singers have joined us for several concerts, and we also joined with East Cornwall Bach Choir for Rachmaninov’s Vespers in Wells Cathedral.

Trips abroad have included performances at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Siena Cathedral and San Gimignano in Italy, Bruges and Trogir, Croatia. We have led services at the cathedrals of Exeter, Winchester, Westminster, St Giles (Edinburgh), and Christ Church (Oxford). More recently we have sung for several services at Wells Cathedral, and a summer Sunday there in 2021 was the first occasion the choir sang in public after lockdown.

We have a long standing and valued relationship with the Abbey, giving three varied concerts a year there, as well as singing for occasional services.
The choir’s first CD, Comfort, Life and Love, was recorded in 2008 in the Abbey, in aid of St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice and hospices throughout the UK, raising over £6,000. More recently we recorded a carol CD with Sherborne Abbey Choir, available from the choir.