About Us

A Brief History

Todmorden Choral Society sprang from the old Todmorden Musical Society which disbanded in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War.  After the War, the two sections of the Society (instrumental and vocal) decided to go their own ways and Todmorden Orchestra and Todmorden Choral Society came into being.  The two organisations are still separate but cooperate with each other on frequent occasions and are both still flourishing.
Jack Bednall was Todmorden Choral Society’s Conductor/Musical Director for 28 years prior to his death in March 2000 and Mrs Jennifer Mitchell was Accompanist for much of the same period.  Since then we have been fortunate in securing the services of Antony Brannick (see below) as our Conductor/Musical Director.   
 
Handel’s Messiah continues to be a popular annual event.  In recent years we have performed works as varied as Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s Magnificat, Faure’s Requiem, Coleridge Taylor's Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, Brahms’ Requiem and Mozart’s Kyrie. For more details of our past concerts click here

We perform concerts at the end of October and the end of April each year. In addition there is an annual performance of the Messiah at the beginning of Advent and an informal Christmas concert during December. There is also a Summer performance during July.