Welcome to Ely Choral Society

Ely Choral Society is a flourishing mixed voice community choir conducted by Andrew Parnell, one of the UK's foremost choral conductors.

Concerts are held in Ely Cathedral and other venues locally with professional soloists and orchestras, together with musicians from the Ely and Cambridge area.

The Ely Youth Choir for 13 to 18s was launched with great success in 2010 and is aimed at teenagers who want to experience the fun and excitement of choral singing to public audiences.

Next concert...

Ely Choral Society and Ribe Kammerkor join together to celebrate the shared musical heritage of the twinned cities of Ely and Ribe in Denmark. The programme includes music from both countries, and the choirs, under the direction of Lotte Bille Glæsel and Andrew Parnell, will sing separately as well as together.

Benjamin Britten’s cantata, Rejoice in the Lamb, is a setting of parts of Christopher Smart’s long poem of the same name. Smart was an 18th century poet, deeply religious, but of a strange and rather unbalanced mind. The poem was written while Smart was in an asylum, but contains many flashes of genius. Britten chose a few of the finest passages to set to music. The work was commissioned in 1943 by Rev. Walter Hussey for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St Matthew’s Church in Northampton.

Mendelssohn’s Hear my Prayer needs very little introduction. It is an extended anthem for soprano solo and choir and contains the popular O for the wings of a dove made famous by the 1927 recording performed by the treble Ernest Lough and the choir of the Temple Church, with Sir George Thalban-Ball at the organ.

Schubert had a close interest in Mozart’s Masses and in this 1816 Mass in C, one can hear obvious influence of the earlier composer, as well as Schubert’s trademark tunefulness and invention.

The above works are complemented by smaller pieces by Niels Gade and John Rutter, and organ solos played by Lotte Bille Glæsel and John Wyatt.

Tickets are priced at £20, £15 and under 18s £5. Tickets will be available from the 11th September from the Cathedral Box Office , by calling 01353 660349, by visiting http://tickets.elycathedral.org or by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .