Basingstoke Choral Society, under its present organisation, came into being in May 1948, having taken over the activities of the Basingstoke Musical Society, dissolved earlier that year. Interestingly, we have obtained a copy of a programme for a performance of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’, dated April 27th. 1899. Not only does this show that Basingstoke Choral Society is older than we had recently thought, but it also states that this was the ‘Tenth Season’, making its birth 1889. It was also, evidently, a large choir, naming 64 ladies and 35 gentlemen in the programme.    
                                                                                       
Our aim is to bring audiences the highest quality musical events, performing with some of the country’s leading professionals. In the past the choir has performed with the London Mozart Players, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has sung with soloists including Bonaventura Bottone and Ekaterina Gubanova. The choir continues to have a wide repertoire, selecting traditional choral works by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Elgar interspersed with more modern pieces by composers such as Bernstein and Karl Jenkins. 

In November 2008, we performed one of the greatest and best loved works in the choral repertoire, ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ by Sir Edward Elgar. Our concert, in November 2009, was a performance of the ever-popular ‘Messiah’ by Handel. The following week we joined with Croydon Philharmonic Choir to take part in a recording of ‘Friday Night is Music Night’, conducted by Barry Wordsworth, at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. We achieved an audience of well over seven hundred for our spring concert 2010, when we performed the great choral work, Verdi’s ‘Requiem’. Most of the choir sang without scores and together with amazing soloists it was truly a night to remember.  In July, last year we were joined by Southampton Philharmonic Choir, for a performance of ‘Daphnis and Chloé’ by Ravel and ‘Chôros No. 10’, by Villa-Lobos.

Basingstoke Choral Society has come a long way since it began, but its aims vary little from those initiated when the Society first came into being. The choir remains strong, with around 140 committed members, a hard working chairman and committee and our accompanist and Assistant Musical Director, Mark Kinkaid, who himself has been with us for more than 25 years. Above all, we have a fantastic Musical Director in David Gibson, who, after more than 28 years with the choir, can still inspire each and every one of us to give of our very best for the Society, of which we are so proud.

We are currently about 140 members strong, but are always happy to welcome new members.