Choirs and Orchestras

Bangor University Chorus

Image of the University Orchestra and Chorus

The University Chorus is a large mixed choir of students and staff from throughout the University, in addition to singers from the local community. In the 2011-12 season we will be joining the University Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater on 5 May, and participating in a gala concert with the University Chamber Choir and other ensembles on 10 December.

There are no auditions for students and staff. Rehearsals take place every Wednesday evening at 7.30 in the Prichard-Jones Hall. Join us at the first rehearsal on the Wednesday evening of Welcome Week (21 September), which is followed by a free cheese and wine party for both new and returning members! An application form may be downloaded by clicking here.

Bangor University Symphony Orchestra

Image of the University Symphony Orchestra cellos

The University Symphony Orchestra is north-west Wales’s premier full-size orchestra, with a membership made up of students and staff from across the University, along with the very best instrumentalists from the surrounding area. The Orchestra rehearses every Monday evening at 7.30 in the Prichard-Jones Hall. Works we’ll be performing in the 2011-12 season include Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye, Webern’s Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 10, Mahler’s Lieder eine fahrenden Gesellen, Nielsen’s Third Symphony and Schumann’s Fourth Symphony.

If you would like to audition for a place in the Symphony Orchestra, please bring your instrument to the open rehearsal at 7.30pm on the Thursday of Welcome Week (22 September) in the Prichard-Jones Hall, when audition times will be allocated for the following day. Click here to download more information and an application form. The open rehearsal is shared with the Music Society Orchestra, for which there are no auditions; please see below. The Music Society will be hosting a big welcome party immediately after the open rehearsal.

Bangor University Chamber Choir

The University Chamber Choir is a small group of around 30 singers, selected by audition. The Choir performs music from the Middle Ages to the present day, and gives regular concerts in Bangor and in other locations, such as Rhyl, Holyhead and Caernarfon. Plans for the 2011-12 season include Finzi’s In terra pax and works from the Renaissance.

Auditions for the Chamber Choir take place on Friday 23 September in the School of Music. An application form may be downloaded by clicking here.

Early Music Bangor

Early Music Bangor comprises instrumental and vocal ensembles specialising in music from the tenth to the eighteenth centuries. Repertoire for the 2011-12 season includes sixteenth-century French vocal music, Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and performances of Italian Baroque music with the Amsterdam-based ensemble Fantasticus.

Information about the audition process is included on the application form, which may be downloaded here.

Bangor University Opera

Bangor University Opera holds rehearsals and workshops throughout the year, and all singers are welcome to audition to join the group. Auditions will be held on Friday 23 September in the School of Music, at the same time as auditions for the University Chamber Choir. An application form may be downloaded by clicking here.

The Music Society

The Music Society is a student organization whose year-round activities include an orchestra (rehearsals every Friday evening at 7.30), a choir (rehearsals every Tuesday evening at 7.30), lunchtime recitals (Tuesdays at 1pm in Powis Hall), regular evening concerts, and many social events. Membership is open all without audition, and you are warmly invited to come along to the open rehearsals in Welcome Week. For more information please visit the Music Society website.

For more information on any of the University’s musical activities, please contact Dr Chris Collins.