Choirs and Orchestras
Bangor University 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 2017-18 season we will be giving two concerts with the University Symphony Orchestra, performing Poulenc’s Gloria and Haydn’s The Creation.
Singing in choir is both healthy and intellectually stimulating, and our rehearsals offer a great way to make new friends. All students 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. Join us at the first rehearsal on the Wednesday evening of Welcome Week (20 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.
It is usually possible to join later in the year; please contact Prof Chris Collins to enquire.
Bangor University Symphony Orchestra
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 2017-18 season include Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (with Iwan Llewelyn-Jones), Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Grace Williams’s Ballads, and Sibelius’s Sixth Symphony, alongside many others.
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 (21 September) in the Prichard-Jones Hall, when audition times will be allocated for the following Saturday. 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.
It is sometimes possible to join the orchestra later in the year. Please contact Prof Chris Collins to enquire about vacancies.
Bangor Uni
versity Chamber Choir
The University Chamber Choir is a small group of around 20-30 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. Plans for the 2017-18 season include a concert in Beaumaris commemorating the First World War, as well as concerts in Bangor and elsewhere.
Auditions for the Chamber Choir take place on Monday 25 September. An application form may be downloaded by clicking here.
It is usually possible to join the choir later in the year. Please contact Mr Stephen Rees to enquire about vacancies.
Specialist ensembles
The School of Music and Media also runs a range of specialist ensembles, including an opera group, and 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 Prof Chris Collins.
The Music Society
The Music Society is a student organization whose year-round activities include an orchestra (rehearsals every Tuesday evening at 7.30), a choir (rehearsals every Friday evening at 7.30), 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 Bangor University Concert Band, Bangor University Brass Band, Bangor University Jazz Band, Bangor University String Orchestra, SODA (musical theatre society), and the Folk Society. Please visit the SU website for more information, or visit the societies’ stands at Serendipity on Wednesday and Thursday of Welcome Week.
Experience Points are awarded for participation in all of these ensembles as part of the Bangor Employability Award.