St Albans St Cecilia Festival Society

Hardynge Choir has been a member of the St Albans St Cecilia Festival Society for many years. The Festival Society was formed in 1955 to celebrate St Cecilia's Day with a performance of Handel's Messiah by three of St Albans' music societies. This initial event has been followed by an increasingly ambitious series of biennial concerts, as the main aim of the Society has become the performance of works outside the scope of the individual member societies. We are fortunate in having in St Albans Cathedral as a wonderful venue for these large-scale concerts, which in recent times have included:
 

Year	Composer	Work	Society	Conductor
2022	Haydn James Francis Brown	The Creation Hartwood Wilding	SASO	John Gibbons James Francis Brown
2019	Britten Britten Dove Vaughan Williams	Fanfare for St Edmundsbury Dawn & Sunday Morning from Peter Grimes Three Seaside Postcards A Sea Symphony	HC	Rufus Frowde
2017	Shostakovich Rachmaninoff Borodin Tchaikovsky	October The Bells Polovtsian Dances 1812 Overture (Choral version)	SACC	John Gibbons
2015	Dvořák	Requiem, Op 89	RC	Alex Flood
2013	Messiaen Brahms	L'Ascension Ein deutsches Requiem	SASO	Bjorn Bantock
2011	Mendelssohn	Elijah	HC	Rufus Frowde
2009	Verdi	Requiem	SACC	John Gibbons
2006	Butterworth Holst Tippett	On the Banks of Green Willow The Hymn of Jesus A Child of Our Time	RC	Clive Fairburn
2004	Elgar	Dream of Gerontius	SASO	James Ross
2002	Elgar Walton Walton Elgar Vaughan Williams	Pomp & Circumstance March 4 Belshazzar’s Feast March: ‘Crown Imperial’ Coronation Ode The Old Hundredth	HC	Roderick McPhee
2000	Poulenc Parry Salzedo	Gloria Four Motets Blest Pair of Sirens. I was Glad Canzona	SACC	David Hansell
1998	Berlioz	Te Deum	RC	Andrew Parnell
1996	Verdi	Requiem	SASO	George Vass
1994	Holst Cantaloupe Orff	The Perfect Fool ballet suite Songs of the Auvergne - 1 & 2 Carmina Burana	HC	Roderick McPhee

Membership of the St Albans St Cecilia Festival Society has changed over the years and now comprises the following organisations:-
 

Aeolian Singers	Musical Director - Stephen Jones
The Hardynge Choir	Musical Director - Rufus Frowde
Radlett Choir	Musical Director - Alexander Flood
St Albans Chamber Choir	Musical Director - John Gibbons
St Albans Symphony Orchestra	Principal Conductor - to be announced