Micklegate Singers is a mixed-voice chamber choir of around thirty members, singing an adventurous range of music dating from the 16th century to the present day. Rehearsing and performing in York, we sing mostly a capella – York Press called us ‘one of the most exciting choirs anywhere’ – and enjoy discovering the wide variety of music written for voices, from four parts upwards. Our musical director is Nicholas Carter.
Our concerts explore some of the lesser-known areas of the choral repertoire. We go beyond the well-known 16th century names of Tallis, Byrd and Palestrina to introduce our audiences to the music of less familiar composers such as L’Héritier, Guerrero and Anerio.
Moving through the Romantic repertoire, we have performed not only the great standards of Stanford and Parry but also music by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Reger. Coming to the present day, we regularly include music by Cecilia McDowall, Eric Whitacre, Arvo Pärt, Paweł Łukaszewski and Ēriks Ešenvalds, to name only a few. We are proud to have given world and European premieres of music by Bob Chilcott, Giles Swayne, John Paynter and others.
Our most recent commissions have included works by York-based composers David McGregor, Peter Moger and James Else; Joe Bates premiere is today and in April 2023, Frederick Viner.
Nicholas Carter: “The Thursday evening rehearsals are an enriching experience. I am always impressed by the sheer variety of music that I can face the choir with and the standard that they reach in performance. The composer William Byrd was a keen advocate of the health benefits of singing, and I always find that I leave the rehearsal feeling younger than I did at the beginning!