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Longer page heading: We’ve been part of Salisbury’s rich choral tradition for over 100 years
Lead paragraph. Salisbury Musical Society is a mixed choir of about 120 voices who live in Salisbury and surrounding areas in Wiltshire and Hampshire. We perform major classical choral works in public concerts that are normally given in Salisbury Cathedral, three times a year, accompanied by a full orchestra.
Test
There are three routes to joining: experienced singers may want to audition straight away; others may want to try the choir as a ‘rehearsing member’ and young singers may want to apply for the Faithfull Bursary.
SMS is a first-rate amateur choir, so you must have an audition to join and re-audition every five years.
For your audition, you will be asked to bring a prepared piece and maybe sing a passage from the work we are currently rehearsing and a short unprepared piece. The conductor will judge the quality of your voice and whether you are able to sight read. (Being able to sight read is useful but not essential.) The conductor may also ask you to sing a few scales and pick out notes from a chord. You will be told of the outcome within a day.
Be the first to hear about new concerts and events
Join our mailing list to stay up to date with Salisbury Musical Society, and find out about other musical occasions happening around Salisbury.
Join us on stage: become a singing member
We’re always looking for new members. Join Salisbury Musical Society and become a part of Salisbury’s first-rate amateur choir.
“Scarcely a moment went by without voices appearing from some unexpected direction, voices that ranged from the ethereal to the dramatic, from the ceremonial to the lyrical.”
Stephen Lycett Monteverdi’s Vespers
Come see our next concert
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Learn more about membership
Be the first to hear about new concerts and events
Join our mailing list to stay up to date with Salisbury Musical Society, and find out about other musical occasions happening around Salisbury.
Join us on stage: become a singing member
We’re always looking for new members. Join Salisbury Musical Society and become a part of Salisbury’s first-rate amateur choir.
John Challenger
John Challenger was appointed our assistant conductor from January 2018.
He has been Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral since September 2012, where he accompanies the Cathedral’s liturgy on the great Father Willis Organ. He received his musical education as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, and as an Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor and St John’s College, Cambridge.
Between January and March 2017, John acted as Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, during the sabbatical of the College’s full-time Director of Music, Andrew Nethsingha. During this time, the world-famous choir undertook numerous high-profile engagements, including a BBC Radio 3 live broadcast of Choral Evensong on Ash Wednesday.
In addition to supporting David, John will conduct our summer concerts in the Cathedral.
Officers and committee
The choir has three officers who together are responsible for
Membership Secretary
Publicity Manager
Social Secretary
Patrons’ Secretary
Our rehearsals are usually held at South Wilts Grammar School for Girls.
The school’s about 25 minutes’ walk from Salisbury train station. There’s a bus stop 4 minutes’ walk away, or plenty of parking should you wish to drive.
Funding
The financial demands placed on the SMS have changed over the years. In 1972/73 the Diamond Jubilee programme noted with awe the increase in the costs of putting on concerts. Brahms’ Requiem in 1931 had cost just £48:17:1d (about £48.85) to perform and Janet Baker had sung Gerontius in 1960 for a fee of 18 guineas! Concerts today regularly cost over £10,000, more than two hundred times the 1931 price and a soloist for Gerontius might now receive fifty times Dame Janet’s 1960 fee. SMS decided in the 1980s that it could no longer rely on funding from local authorities and regional arts associations and has for many years now been independent of them. It is grateful to the various sponsors for their help and for the generosity of Patrons and its own members for its current financial independence.
We’re grateful to all our patrons and sponsors
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We’re keen to cooperate in joint concerts with other choirs.
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5 August 2024
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