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Choirs and Orchestras

University Symphony ChorusImage of the University Orchestra and Chorus

If you enjoy singing, you’ll want to join Bangor University Symphony Chorus. The Chorus is a large SATB choir, made up of students from across the University, joined by staff and the best singers from the local community. Plans for the 2019-20 include a wide range of classical music, including a Christmas concert in the beautiful walled town of Conwy, and culminating in a large-scale performance of Mozart’s Requiem with the University Symphony Orchestra.

Singing in a choir is both healthy and intellectually stimulating, and our rehearsals offer a great way to make new friends. All students, staff and recent graduates are welcome to join, regardless of previous choral experience. There are no auditions.

Rehearsals take place every Wednesday evening at 7.30 in the Prichard-Jones Hall.

Students are staff are invited to join us for an open rehearsal on the Wednesday evening of Welcome Week (18 September), which will be followed by a free cheese and wine party. Members of the local community are invited to join us at the first full rehearsal at the same time the following week (25 September). It is usually possible to join later in the year - please contact Bethan Brown to enquire.

Application form to join the University Symphony Chorus - available here.

Image of the University Symphony Orchestra cellosUniversity Symphony Orchestra

Bangor 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 2019-20 season include Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Requiem, and works by two unsung women composers of the 19th-century: Amanda Meier and Amy Beach.

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 (19 September) in the Prichard-Jones Hall, when audition times will be allocated for the following Saturday. It is sometimes possible to join the orchestra later in the year. Please contact Bethan Brown to enquire about vacancies.

Application form to join the University Symphony Orchestra - available here.

UniLlun o'r Cor Siambrversity Chamber Choir

The University Chamber Choir is a small group of around 24 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. It rehearses every Wednesday at 7.30pm in the Music building. All students interested in joining the choir are invited to come along to the open choral rehearsal on Wednesday evening of Welcome Week (18 September), at 7.30pm in the Prichard Jones Hall.

See their performance of All That’s Past and The Lord is my Shepherd at the Gala Concert in 2019.

Auditions for the Chamber Choir take place on Friday 20 September.

Application form to join the University Chamber Choir - available here.

Specialist ensembles

The School of Music also runs a range of specialist ensembles, including an opera group, an early music ensemble, and a new music ensemble. If you would like to express an interest in taking part in any of these ensembles, please contact Bethan Brown.

The Music Society

The Music Society (Musoc) is a student organization whose year-round activities include an Orchestra (rehearsals every Tuesday evening at 7.30 during term time), a Choir (rehearsals every Friday evening at 7.30 during term time), lunchtime and evening concerts, and many social events. Membership is open to 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.

Other performing groups

Other societies affiliated to the Students’ Union include the Concert Band, the Brass Band, the Jazz Band, the String Orchestra, a musical theatre society (SODA), a Welsh-language choir (Aelwyd JMJ), the Acapella Society, the Film Society, the Folk Society (Cadi Ha), a Welsh-language drama and literature society (Cymdeithas John Gwilym Jones), two English-language drama societies (BEDS and ROSTRA), the Circus Society (Cirque du Soc), and BU Dance – alongside many more! Please visit the SU website for more information, or visit the societies’ stands at Serendipity on Wednesday of Welcome Week.

Note: Experience Points are awarded for participation in all of these ensembles as part of the Bangor Employability Award.

Performance opportunities for the local community

Singers are very welcome to join the University Symphony Chorus for a small fee. See above for more information and a link to the application form.

Bangor University Community Orchestra meets eight times a year for a full day of orchestral playing. Instrumentalists of all standards are welcome to join. More information can be found at the Bangor University Online Shop here.

The best local instrumentalists of all ages are welcome to audition for a place in the University Symphony Orchestra (see above).