The Society, founded in 1861, had close associations with the Elgar family from its early days, indeed several members of the family joined it. Edward led the orchestra and often conducted his own works at its concerts and he wrote two works for the Society, The Black Knight (1892) and From the Bavarian Highlands (1895).

Our programmes have been enterprising; as well as standard works of choral repertoire, they have included contemporary works from both home and abroad.  To see a list of some recently performed works click here

In 1994, the Society gave the first UK performance of the then recently discovered Messe Solennelle by Berlioz.  To mark English Music Year, it commissioned the choral and orchestral work from Donald Hunt, A Song of Celebration that received its highly successful première performance, broadcast, together with Elgar's The Music Makers, by the BBC in 1995.

As well as supplying singers for the Three Choirs Festivals, the Society has sung at many other festivals, notably at King's Lynn and at Elgar Festivals in the Royal Albert Hall and in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.  In 1991 and 1992 it was invited to join the BBC Singers and Chorus in Elgar concerts in the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The Society has broadcast with the BBC Welsh Symphony and with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestras and has contributed to commercial recordings from Worcester Cathedral, including The Crucifixion by John Stainer.

2003 saw the second joint collaboration with Portsmouth Choral Union in performances of Mendelssohn's Elijah in Portsmouth and Worcester. The Society commissioned a major choral work from Adrian Lucas, Creation Canticles, which was given it's highly successful premiere in 2004. In November 2004 the choir joined forces with the City of Birmingham Choir and the CBSO in Britten's War Requiem in Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Our more recent programme has included Elgar’s The Kingdom, Verdi’s Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Brahms' Requiem.

Since its foundation the Society has had only eight conductors, all being Directors of Music at the Cathedral; since 1997 Adrian Lucas has held this post.

Since 2004 Christopher Allsop has been our accompanist and he conducted the performance of Carmina Burana on 15th March 2008.

A fascinating history of the Society, A Prevailing Passion written by Mary Parsons, has been published by Osborne Heritage (1996).  For details click here