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Thursday 21 November: the rehearsal tonight is going ahead despite the weather.

Next Concert

From Handel to Holst - A Celebration of Christmas

Our Christmas concert will be on December 15 2024 at the Silvester Horne Institute, comprising choruses from Handel's Messiah, Four Old English Carols by Holst to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth (and also the 90th anniversary of his death), along with some traditional Christmas items and audience carols.

Tickets now on sale from choir members, Vines, or on the door. £15 including Programme. Refreshments available for sale during interval.

Rehearsals are on Thursdays at 7.30 pm in the United Reformed Church, Church Stretton, starting on September 12. 

New members, of all voices, are always very welcome to join us - see the Membership / Joining page.

Spring Concert 2024

Stretton Choral Society and its Music Director Michael Turner presented our Spring concert, "Noah, Shakespeare, and All That Jazz", on Sunday 12 May, 2024, at the Silvester Horne Institute.  Bright tops in the colours of the rainbow replaced our normal attire of black tie.  The soloist was Mark Horner, and the accompanists were Sally Oak (keyboard), Elizabeth Jones (double bass), and Oliver James (percussion).  Thank you to everyone who came - the concert, with its departure from tradition both in terms of musical content and dress, seemed to be appreciated and we certainly enjoyed it.  

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Who we are

Stretton Choral Society, in its present format, was founded in 1977 and currently meets once a week in the newly refurbished United Reformed Church, Church Stretton, between September and May to rehearse for at least two public concerts each year.

A concert in December usually consists mainly of music related to the Christmas season and includes some Christmas carols for the audience to join in.  A spring concert in early May allows for more substantial works in the classical and modern repertoires.

We welcome members both from the Strettons and from the surrounding area.  

Our musical team

Musical Director: Michael Turner

At the same time as all meetings were cancelled in March 2020, the Society had to say goodbye at very short notice to our musical director, Paul Kelly, who has relocated to the Orkneys.  We warmly welcome our new leader - Michael Turner - who joined us on Thursday 2nd September 2021.

From Birmingham, Michael Turner studied violin and viola, before settling on percussion as his main instrumental study.  As a singer, he has been a member of the CBSO Chorus, along with a number of other choirs across the Midlands.

Michael has attended conducting courses with John Carewe and George Hurst and studied under Hilary Davan Wetton, with whom he settled on adopting the conducting technique favoured by Sir Adrian Boult.

A music graduate of Leicester University, Michael has conducted several amateur and professional ensembles and choirs including the Birmingham Singers, Proteus Chamber Orchestra, the More Singers, the Telford Orchestra, the Marches Choir and the Phoenix Singers.  He made his professional debut with the Milton Keynes City Orchestra and has also worked with the Manchester Camerata.  Michael has been Music Director of the Bloomsbury Chamber Orchestra since 1996, was Music Director of the Oswestry Sinfonia from 2014 - 2020 and became Musical Director of the Stretton Choral Society in September 2021.  He has been an ensemble conductor for Shropshire Music Service since 2016.

Michael has composed extensively, with works including a Horn Concerto, several orchestral and choral works, instrumental music and pieces for percussion and wind ensemble.

Michael lives in South Shropshire with his wife.  They have three sons. Between them, the Turners play bassoon, guitar, horn, oboe, piano, recorders (of various sizes), viola and violin, with one boy currently a Cathedral chorister.

Accompanist: Gill Styles

Our previous Accompanist Sally Oak sadly had to leave us in October 2024 when a more local choir she is involved with needed her services on the same day.  But we were delighted to welcome a new Accompanist, Gill Styles.

Gill was born in West Yorkshire. She studied music at Goldsmiths’ College, London where she focused on piano and voice.

For over thirty years Gill has been a junior school class teacher with responsibility for music.  Throughout her career she has enjoyed accompanying singers and instrumentalists, as well as playing chamber music, performing as a vocal soloist and singing in local choirs.