Phoenix Choir

As we entered the new millennium, Crawley had two thriving Choral Societies – Concordia Singers, formed in 1962, and The Weald Choir of Crawley, formed in 1970.

Having co-existed in friendly rivalry for over 40 years, in 2016 the two choirs prepared to put on a joint concert at The Hawth entitled War and Peace, to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

The joint rehearsals were so successful that the choirs decided to make their union permanent, and a new choir named The Phoenix Choir of Crawley was born!

Samuel Hayes was appointed as the first Music Director of Phoenix Choir of Crawley and rehearsals began in September 2016 at Holy Trinity School. The first concert, Haydn’s Creation, was held on 3^rd December 2016 at St Wilfrid’s School.

In Spring 2019 we said ‘Goodbye and Good Luck’ to Sam Hayes, as his career plans took him on a different path. In Summer 2019 we welcomed George Salmon as our second Music Director.

Guest singers were invited to join us in Spring 2020 to prepare for our Messiah concert at The Hawth, planned for April 2020. On 14^th March 2020 we held a Messiah singing workshop led by George Salmon and professional voice coach Jane Haughton. Sadly, that was the last time our choir was able to sing together before the coronavirus lockdown brought our season to an abrupt end.

We are looking forward to singing together again as soon as it is safe to do so. Our Messiah concert at The Hawth has been rescheduled for April 2022.

We have lots of exciting plans and will be actively recruiting new singers as soon as we can resume our rehearsals, so if you took up singing during lockdown, or think it is something you would like to do, why not come along to try a few rehearsals for free. We rehearse on Thursday evenings, in Crawley.

We usually perform at least three concerts a year with professional soloists and instrumentalists. We also enjoy performing in the community. Our repertoire includes the great choral classics, works by contemporary composers, shorter works such as spirituals, madrigals and folk songs and Christmas music.

For further details see: https://phoenixchoircrawley.org/