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HINCKLEY CHORAL UNION |
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The earliest record of a choral event in Hinckley is 1838, when a choir of 80 sang to support fund raising for organ repairs at the town’s parish church. Whilst a choral society is known to have been active in the mid-1860s, it was only in later Victorian and Edwardian times that choral music in Hinckley, outside church choirs, enjoyed a prominent role in the town’s cultural life. Thanks largely to the initiative and enthusiasm of key individuals with remarkable musical talent, choral societies were a prominent feature of an expanding hosiery town in both the 1880s and the period from 1908 to the later years of World War 1. A major renaissance of choral music in Hinckley took place at the beginning of World War II. During the mid-forties, renowned soloists such as Kathleen Ferrier sang with the Hinckley Choral Society, then regularly numbering over a hundred voices. In the immediate post war years, the nucleus of this group also won acclaim at music festivals in the Midlands and broadcast several times on the BBC Midlands Regional radio service. The present choir represents the longest continuity of choral music seen in the town. From its re-founding in 1966 as the Hinckley Choral Union, it has steadily prospered. Since 1978 it has been under the guidance of its present Musical Director, Richard Archer, and now numbers around 65 members. It undertakes works of both a secular and sacred nature at a variety of venues in Hinckley and the surrounding area. Book now available
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