Hallé Choir

The Hallé Choir is a large symphonic chorus of around 220 singers based in Manchester, England.^[1] It was founded as Manchester Choral Society^[2] alongside the Hallé Orchestra in 1858 by Sir Charles Hallé.^[3] The choir gives around 15 concerts a year with The Hallé at The Bridgewater Hall and other venues across the UK. Appearing with international conductors and soloists in concert and recordings, the choir performs a repertoire of major choral and operatic works ranging from mainstream pieces to more esoteric pieces and commissions.^[1]

Recent highlights have included performances of Elgar’s three great oratorios The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles and The Kingdom as the climax to the Hallé’s 2022–2023 season (and all three have also been released on the Hallé’s own multi award-winning CD label), Rachmaninov’s The Bells with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder at the 2023 BBC Proms and Fauré’s Requiem with Kahchun Wong, the Hallé’s Principal Conductor.

As well as appearing with the Hallé, the Choir also performs regularly with other orchestras at venues and festivals around the UK, including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and York Minster. Recent collaborations have included Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under Edward Gardner at the 2022 BBC Proms, and the world premiere of Brett Dean’s In This Brief Moment with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Nicholas Collon, also in 2022.

Recent Hallé Choir Directors have included James Burton, Frances Cooke and Madeleine Venner.^[4] The current Hallé Choir Director is Matthew Hamilton.^[5]