Hertford Chamber Choir, led by Manvinder Rattan, was set up under the umbrella of Hertford Choral Society (HCS) in January 2022 with the aim of singing interesting and challenging repertoire suitable for a smaller group of singers.
Performances have been local and further afield – including evensong in London, the Hertfordshire Festival of Music in 2022 and 2023 and our first solo concert, O Radiant Dawn, in St Andrew’s Church, Hertford. In November 2022, HCC went on tour for the first time, performing a solo concert in the beautiful St Peter’s Church in Vienna.
From our director, Manvinder Rattan, CEO of the Voices Foundation: “I am delighted we’ve set this choir up because it’s bringing together some very strong singers as well as singers with potential. Choirs are teams – we have started getting to know each other as people and musically. It is a very promising start.”
Since the first rehearsal, the repertoire has been broad and varied, from the early Renaissance to contemporary, sacred and secular, and both a cappella and accompanied. We have performed works by Renaissance and Tudor composers such as Palestrina, Tallis and Byrd, and more modern contemporary composers such as Morten Lauridsen, James MacMillan and Will Todd. Repertoire ranges from short, individual pieces to larger works such as Britten’s Choral Dances from Gloriana, Durante’s Magnificat and Haydn’s Kleine Orgelmesse.
