Our History and Heritage
Stability - 1974-2006
David Grundy was appointed Conductor in the summer of 1975 and remained in post until the summer of 2001. Elizabeth Arnot continued as accompanist.
December 1974 - Carol Concert at the Music Hall accompanied by the Shropshire Schools’ Brass Band
Spring 1975 - Dvorak’s The Spectre’s Bride
April 1975 - Vivaldi’s Gloria and Part 1 of Haydn’s Creation
December 1975 - Christmas Concert accompanied by the Shropshire Schools’ Symphony Orchestra
Spring 1976 - Bizet’s Carmen and Borodin Polovitsian Dances
December 1976 - Messiah at St Chad’s
January 1977 - Dvorak’s Mass in D and Kodaly’s Missa Brevis
Spring 1977 - Verdi’s Requiem
December 1977 - Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Music for Christmas at St Chad’s
April 1978 - Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Mass in G minor
December 1978 - Carols, Geoffrey Bush’s Christmas Cantata and Messiah (Part 1)
Spring 1979 Bach St Matthew Passion
December 1979 - A Concert of English Music - Elgar’s Music Makers and From the Bavarian Highlands, Vaughan Williams’ In Windsor Forest, Stanford’s Songs of the Sea. Press reports for this concert mention for the first time Sallie Kirkpatrick as accompanist alongside long-serving Elizabeth Arnot.
Christmas 1979 - A Christmas Concert with the Shropshire School’s Brass Band in aid of the Mayor’s Cancer Unit Appeal and Brierly House for the Deaf
Spring 1980 - Mendelssohn’s St Paul
Christmas 1980 - Britten’s St Nicolas and Holst’s Christmas Day with Elizabeth Arnot and Sallie Kirkpatrick accompanying on the piano and Alan Viner on the Organ. Girls from Shrewsbury High School sang as the Gallery Choir.
Spring 1981 - Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus and Mass in C with a solo performance of his Exsultate Jubilate
Christmas 1981 - Messiah at St Chad’s with Wendy Evans on Trumpet and Elizabeth Arnot accompanying from the organ
Spring 1982 - John Ireland’s These Things Shall Be and Berlioz’ Te Deum. Girls from Shrewsbury Sixth Form College provided the sub-chorus.
May 1982 - A concert to raise funds for the Organ at St Chad’s with extracts from Messiah
Christmas 1982 - Haydn’s St Nicholas Mass and Meditations on the Nativity composed by David Grundy using words by choir-members Sela Prideaux and John Waddington-Feather.
Spring 1983 - Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Choristers of St Chad’s providing the semi-chorus.
November 1983 - Beethoven Ninth Symphony - Choral with Shrewsbury Orchestral Society performing at the Music Hall
December 1983 - Messiah (Part 1) at the Abbey
December 1983 - Fauré Requiem and Handel Dixit Dominus
April 1984 - Dvorak’s Te Deum and Brahms’ A German Requiem
Summer Concert 1984 - Elgar’s The Spirit of England and Schubert’s Mass in G
December 1984 - Carol Concert
December 1984 - Elgar’s The Music Makers and Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces
Spring 1985 - Beethoven’s Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse
Summer 1985 - Stanford’s The Revenge and Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens
David Jones notes in his history of the Choral Society that “Whilst the concerts were considered musical successes, financially it was little short of disastrous, the working balance having fallen by nearly £1000, mainly due to poor attendances at concerts and the use of “proper accompaniment and “good” soloists.” !!!
Autumn 1985 - Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the refurbished Music Hall. A serious criticism of the refurbishment was that the curtained acoustics had become very dry making singing there much harder.
Spring 1986 - Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast and Vaughan-Wlliams’ Toward the Unknown Region
November 1986 - Vaughan-William’s A Sea Symphony
December 1986 - Messiah
April 1987 - Dvorak’s Stabat Mater
Summer 1987 - Dvorak’s Mass in D and Elgar’s Give unto the Lord
December 1987 - Two concerts were given. At the first at St Chad’s Vaughan William’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Lighten our Darkness composed by David Grundy to words by choir member Sela Prideaux. At the second concert at the United Reformed Church the Fantasia was performed.
Spring/Summer 1988 - Verdi’s Requiem
December 1988 - Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle
Spring 1988 - Mozart’s Requiem and Solemn Vespers
Summer 1988 - Elgar’s The Banner of St George
November 1990 - Golden Jubilee Concert - Brahms’ A German Requiem
December 1990 - At Clive Church - Messiah
January 1991 (rescheduled owing to poor weather before Christmas) - Messiah at St Chad’s
Spring 1991 - Haydn’s The Creation
Summer 1991 - At St Alkmunds - Excerpts from Haydn’s The Seasons, Elgar’s King Olaf and Haydn’s Missa Braves Sanctis Johannis de Deo
Autumn 1991 - Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Handel’s Coronation Anthems
Spring 1992 - Brahms’ Song of Destiny and Bruckner’s Mass No 3
Autumn 1992 - Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass and Duruflé’s Requiem
Spring 1993 - Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality
November 1993 - A Celebration of the Centenary of the Birth of Wilfred Owen with Highgate Choral Society. Haydn Mass in D Minor (Nelson) Ronald Corp’s And all the trumpets shall sound and David Grundy’s The Parable
January 1994 - Messiah at St Chad’s followed a week later by excerpts from Messiah at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Harlescott
Spring 1994 - Schubert Concert - Song of Miriam and Mass in A flat
Autumn 1994 - Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius
Spring 1995 - Fauré’s Requiem and Cherubini’s Requiem
Autumn 1995 - Celebrating 21 years under the baton of David Grundy. Dvorak’s The Spectre’s Bride
Spring 1996 - Haydn’s Insanae et Vanae Curae, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus and Mass in C minor
December 1996 - “Carols and Brass” at St Chad’s including a performance of David Grundy’s composition The Flowering Manger to words by society member Sela Prideaux with Shropshire Brass led by David Heywood and with William Hayward on the organ and Elizabeth Arnot on the piano.
January 1997 - Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise, Beethoven’s Mass in C
Easter 1997 - Messiah at St Chad’s
23rd April 1997 - A St George’s Day concert - Vaughan Williams In Windsor Forest and A Cotswold Romance, David Grundy I will now remember the works of the Lord
December 1997 - Brahm’s The Song of Destiny and Nanie and Schubert’s Mass in E flat
Spring 1998 - Dvorak Te Deum and Brahms’ A German Requiem
December 1998 - Haydn’s Seasons (Spring and Autumn) and Harmoniemesse
April 1999 - Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart’s Regina Coeli, Elgar’s For the Fallen
January 2000 - Borodin’s Polovitsian Dances, Bizet’s Carmen
May 2000 - Elgar’s The Music Makers, Berlioz’ Te Deum with the Choir of the Wakeman School
December 2000 - Andrew Carter’s Benedicite (with the choir of Meole Brace School), Haydn’s Nelson Mass
April 2021 - Verdi’s Stabat Mater and Requiem
The April Concert saw David’s last concert as conductor after 27 years on the conductor’s podium. And after 50 years service to the society, Elizabeth Arnot took her leave of the Society. Between them they dedicated themselves to the Society for 77 years - a remarkable achievement. The Society would not lose touch with David: for the next four years he served as accompanist alongside Sallie Kirkpatrick! David passed away on 29th July 2010 and there is a touching obituary in the Church Times HERE which speaks of his huge commitment to the musical life of our town.
Ian Ward was appointed to take the baton in the summer of 2001. He was Director of the Oswestry Sinfonia with whom the Society formed a close link in the following years as they accompanied our concerts under Ian’s direction.
Christmas 2001 - Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols
March 2002 - Celebrating the Society’s 60th Jubilee, Mendelssohn’s Elijah was given at St Chad’s before a large and enthusiastic audience which included Mr James Madly, who as a 17 year old sang with the Society in its debut performance of Elijah 60 years previously.
Christmas 2002 - Duruflé’s Requiem, Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass
Spring 2003 - Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Mozart’s Requiem
Summer 2003 - A concert at the Wakeman School in aid of The Friends of St Chad’s with a variety of opera choruses and a concert performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury
Christmas 2003 - Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, Vivaldi’s Gloria and congregational carols
Spring 2004 - Dvorak’s Stabat Mater
Summer 2004 - Concert version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance at Packwood Haugh School
November 2004 - A workshop with composer and conductor John Rutter which raised £2000 for the Shrewsbury Music Therapy Trust
December 2004 - Come and Sing Messiah at St Chad’s. This attracted 150 singers from all around the county and beyond.
January 2005 - John Rutter’s Gloria and Requiem with David Grundy on the organ and Wrekin Brass
Spring 2005 - Purcell Come, Ye Sons of Art, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality
Summer 2005 - about 25 members of the Society travelled to Lichfield for rehearsals culminating in a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in the Birmingham Symphony Hall celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Making Music West Midlands
Christmas 2005 - Haydn’s St Nicholas Mass, Britten St Nicolas featuring the Chamber Choir from Prestfelde School under its director, Jeremy Lund
April 2006 - A programme of Brahms’ featuring his Academic Festival Overture and the German Requiem at St Chad’s.
This was to be Ian Ward’s final concert as he had decided to pursue new ventures in France. Martin Schellenberg was appointed as Musical Director in 2006.