Halle Choir

Formed in 1858 along with the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester, England's Hallé Choir is Britain's oldest choral-orchestral ensemble. The substantial group is well-suited to the oratorios and other large choral works in the British tradition, but the group has performed and recorded a great variety of music from many countries. The Hallé Choir has a large catalog covering all recording formats. In 2025, the group was heard with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on a recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 20 ("The First of May"). The Hallé Choir was formed after Sir Charles Hallé assembled a group of musicians and singers to perform at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857. At first, it used the names Manchester Choral Society or Mr. Hallé's Choir. The group performed with the Hallé Orchestra as it experienced ups and downs in its fortunes. It made its first appearance on radio with the orchestra on February 5, 1925, performing Elgar's substantial cantata The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38. The Hallé Choir has been large since its inception, with its size hovering between 200 and 220 singers; it is appropriate to large choral works by Elgar and others, and has recorded The Dream of Gerontius multiple times. Its recording catalog stretches back to the 78 rpm era. An early recording came in 1949 with the Hallé's longtime conductor, Sir John Barbirolli; it featured John Ireland's These things shall be. The Hallé Choir has participated in a number of national or world premieres, including the British premieres of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique in 1879 (with its choral sequel, Lélio) and La damnation de Faust in 1880, Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 (1908), Ralph Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia antartica (1953), and Thomas Adès' These Premises Are Alarmed (1996). The group performs mostly with the Hallé Orchestra but has also made high-profile appearances with other groups, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2022 BBC Proms and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Brett Dean's In This Brief Moment, also in 2022. The choir performs about 15 concerts annually at Bridgewater Hall and elsewhere. The group performs under Hallé Orchestra conductors but also has its own directors, most recently James Burton (2002-2009), Madeline Venner (2012-2015), and Matthew Hamilton (2015-). The Hallé Choir's recording frequency has increased since the formation of the Hallé Orchestra's in-house Hallé label, and the group has appeared on both recordings of unusual music, such as Gustav Holst's The Hymn of Jesus (2014) and popular fare such as A Christmas Celebration (2016). In 2025, the choir joined the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 20 ("The First of May"), released on the Chandos label. The Hallé Choir also maintains the Hallé Youth Choir, for singers ages 13 to 19, and the Hallé Children's Choir, for singers 8-12. ~ James Manheim, Rovi