Bristol Choral Society

Bristol Choral Society
George Risely, 1899
Background information
Also known as	BCS
Origin	Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Classical
Years active	1889-present
Website	www.bristolchoral.co.uk

Bristol Choral Society is a large mixed-voiced choir based in Bristol, England, founded in 1889. Currently conducted by Hilary Campbell, it has around 180 auditioned members. The choir stages at least three concerts annually at the Colston Hall in Bristol with professional orchestras and soloists, and another annually at Bristol Cathedral in addition to other performances and broadcasts in Bristol and further afield.

Bristol Choral Society was founded in 1889 by George Riseley, then organist of Bristol Cathedral. Its first performance was at the Colston Hall on 7 May 1890 – Mendelssohn's St. Paul (oratorio) with a choir exceeding 500 singers – and it has been performing principally at the Colston Hall ever since.

A few weeks later, the Society accepted its first invitation to sing outside Bristol, being asked by Augustus Manns to sing the same work at the Crystal Palace, London joining other choirs to number some 5,500 singers in total. The second Bristol concert was the first Bristol performance of A German Requiem (Brahms) in December 1890.

On 21 December 1892, Bristol Choral Society gave its first performance of Handel's Messiah at the Colston Hall. It proved so popular, regularly attracting sell-out audiences, that it has been performed at the Colston Hall every year since, usually on the Saturday before Christmas, with the exception of only nine years: 1896, 1898 and 1899 while Colston Hall was rebuilt following fire, 1914 and 1915 due to World War I, 1931, 1940 due to World War II, 1951 and 2011 – the latter two when it was replaced with performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Between 1972 and 1992 two performances were given annually, on the two Saturdays leading up to Christmas. 2012 marked the 120th anniversary of the choir's Messiah at Colston Hall with Messiah once again performed on the Saturday before Christmas - 120 years and 1 day after the first at that venue. Since 2006, the choir has performed all of Messiah from memory.