Welcome to South Devon Choir

South Devon Choir began singing choral music together in this lovely area in 1871 and our 2021-22 Season marks our 150th Anniversary.

Throughout the decades we have changed and developed to cope with the challenges we have encountered.

Our first concert in two years, due to the pandemic, was Handel’s Messiah performed in December 2021 and it was also our first under the musical direction of Simon Dunbavand, following the retirement of John Hobbs in 2019.

We continue our 150th Anniversary Season  with rehearsals in person once again, at the spacious Central Church, Tor Hill Road, Torquay.  Rehearsals take place each week on Thursday evenings commencing at 7.30pm.

As we start 2022 we are very excited to be singing works by contemporary composers, John Rutter Gloria, Paul Drayton A Ceremony of Psalms and Simon Dunbavand, a world premiere, Gitanjali: Eleven Postcards from Bengal and culminating in a concert to be held on Saturday 21 May 2022 at St Matthias Church, Wellswood, Torquay.

We have two choral workshops to look forward to, the first on Saturday 12 February 2022 will be John Rutter’s Gloria, conducted by the inspirational Simon Dunbavand and accompanied by Ian Curror.

The second workshop will be with the composer, Paul Drayton and his A Ceremony of Psalms and this will take place on Saturday 12 March 2022.

Both workshops will be held at St Matthias Church, Wellswood, Torquay.

About South Devon Choir

We are a large choir and every Thursday, until the pandemic, we gathered at St Pauls Church Hall, Torquay Road, Preston, Paignton to learn works ranging from Bizet’s Te Deum and Handel’s Messiah to Horawitz and Flanders’ Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo and Karl Jenkins The Armed Man.  In fact nearly all the historical oratorios, cantatas and choral works have been performed at concerts as well as 20th and 21st century compositions.

The virus has forced us down different paths – our rehearsal hall, originally at St Pauls, Paignton was too small to spread out so we have moved to Central Church where the ceilings are high and there is better ventilation.

Following the virus outbreak and lockdown in March 2020 we took to singing online via Microsoft Teams.  Our lockdown repertoire took us on a wide ranging journey from Tchaikovski’s Tebe Poem and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle to O Waly Waly,  You’ll Never Walk Alone and the James Bond Theme.

We started 2021 in a new lockdown but with plenty of hope and enthusiasm and rehearsing Haydn’s magical and magnificent “The Creation”.  Along the way we have had online coffee mornings, an online risotto cook-along with our Director of Music, quizzes and bring your own cream teas and not forgetting that our Hon. Secretary has kept us up to date with a regular weekly newsletter.

We welcome new members. We are a friendly, non-audition choir and would be very pleased to have you along to try us out and hopefully, to join.

Do get in touch if you would like more information – New Members

And before Covid 19- a proper concert