Country representing: England
Number of performers in the whole group: 50
Group website: https://manchestercommunitychoir.org.uk
Participation: Non-Competitive
Biography:
Manchester Community Choir was founded in 1999 and has over 90 members.
We sing acapella and have been bringing harmony and joy to audiences in Greater Manchester and further afield for more than 25 years.
We perform a wide range of songs from different musical traditions, all in beautiful unaccompanied four-part harmony.
Our repertoire includes songs from across the world, both modern and traditional, which reflect our values of respect for the world and its peoples, and a belief in freedom, fairness and peace. Some of our songs are arranged especially for us.
We sing for pleasure, wellbeing and friendship and enjoy supporting good causes. We are non-political and non-religious, we welcome all-comers and we don’t audition.
Publicity
The Choir are proud of their high-performance standards and have enjoyed performing at the Llangollen IME in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Every year, except for 2020 and 2021 when the event was cancelled because of the pandemic, we have taken part in the annual National Street Choirs Festival which has taken place in different cities and towns across the country. We organised and hosted the event in Manchester in 2019 and performed in Sheffield in 2024.
The Choir have performed at televised events, including the 2002 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony and the unveiling of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in Manchester in 2018, and at some iconic venues in Manchester, including the Bridgewater Hall, the Royal Exchange Theatre, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Central Library, Victoria Baths and Heaton Hall.
We have had the pleasure of performing with other choirs, including those from other countries. We performed with the Icelandic choir, Kór Reyðarfjarðarkirkju (Kór Rey) at Llangollen IME in 2018.
Rose Hodgson has been our musical director since September 2019. Rose is a member of the Natural Voice Network and has been leading choirs for 17 years, in community, health and workplace settings.
She has a wide-ranging repertoire of songs, including songs from southern Africa, Hawaii, Georgia, Czech Republic and Ireland. She also arranges acapella songs herself and sings in the vocal group, ‘The Lovenotes’.
