Mirfield Choral Society

10/10/2026

🎶 **LOVE TO SING? COME AND GIVE US A TRY!** 🎶

Mirfield Choral Society is holding an **OPEN REHEARSAL** on Monday 19th October, 7.30–9.30pm at St Andrew’s Methodist Church, Mirfield.

🎵 Come and sing with us!
☕ Refreshments provided
😊 Friendly faces and a warm welcome — no experience necessary!

Come along, meet the choir and discover the joy of singing together.

📩 Contact [email protected] or send us a message on Facebook for more information.

We’d love to see you there! 🎶

29/09/2026

Perhaps you haven't been singing for a while and would like to try again? Come to our open rehearsal. we will be singing Christmas songs.You will be most welcome.

12/05/2026

The rehearsals are going really well for our Summer Concert in June. We are really enjoying the music. Tickets are selling well too. Please message the ticket secretary, Sally, on the email or phone number below if you would like some tickets. We are limited by the size of the venue but plenty still available. It will be a good concert.

15/04/2026

Great to be back rehearsing on Monday after our Easter break. We had a brilliant time singing musical theatre favourites from Les Miserables and My Fair Lady, as well as practising being Toreadors.

Now is a great time to join our choir! We're a friendly group, and we have an enjoyable time every week, our rehearsals have an encouraging atmosphere, where we're guided by our expert professional musicians and we love performing to supportive audiences.

Come along to a Monday rehearsal, your first four are free!

Tickets will be on sale soon, keep an eye out for details.

22/03/2026

Thanks to all who came to our concert yesterday, we were thrilled to perform alongside our amazing soloists and virtuosic keyboard players!

Ann Wilkes, Charlotte Woodhead, Peter Cain and James Gaughan formed a wonderful vocal quartet, and Lee Ward and our very own Ian Abbott provided us with exquisite and sensitive accompaniment.

The choir is growing and going from strength to strength, and we've been pleased to welcome a number of new singers over the past few months. Would you like to join us? Message on here or contact [email protected] for more info, your first four weeks are free.

21/03/2026

It's concert day!

There are still some tickets available on the door, you're in for a treat with our outstanding lineup of soloists, organ and piano duo!

The choir have been working incredibly hard over the past few weeks, and the music ranges from hauntingly beauty to infectious earworms!

See you there

Have you got your tickets yet? It's just over one week to go until our spring concert, where we will be performing Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle.

Not familiar with the work? Don't be fooled by the solemn title! Rossini, an absolute master of comic opera tried his hardest to write a serious sacred work, but couldn't help but write wonderful joyful music, straight out of the opera house.

We have four stunning soloists lined up for you, and we are delighted to be joined by Lee Ward, organist alongside our incredible accompanist Ian Abbott. The work contains beautiful operatic style solos, alongside choral movements ranging from hauntingly beautfil to athletic, and we guarantee you'll leave humming some of Rossini's infectiously melodic writing!

Tickets availalble by messaging on here, or contacting [email protected]

20/03/2026

We have another very important guest to introduce, Lee Ward will be playing organ alongside our accompanist Ian Abbott. Here's Lee's biography, and we guarantee that you'll be impressed by his playing.

Leeds musician Lee Ward is an organist, harpsichordist, conductor and teacher with a career that spans cathedrals, concert halls and universities across the UK and Brazil. His recent work includes distinguished appointments at Liverpool Cathedral and the University of Liverpool, where he taught classical performance and was a sought-after collaborative pianist and harpsichordist.

A former Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music—where he swept all the organ prizes—Lee has performed widely at home and abroad, giving recitals in major cathedrals and town halls. His recording and broadcast credits include the historic Beatification of Cardinal Newman, attended by Pope Benedict XVI.

Passionate about the harpsichord, particularly its twenty‑first‑century repertoire, Lee is equally at home in continuo roles. He has worked with leading ensembles including OSM and OSESP in Brazil the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Opera North, The Halle and London Mozart Players. Today he continues an active freelance career, performing, accompanying and directing choirs with his trademark musicality and versatility.

19/03/2026

Introducing the final soloist for our concert this Saturday, James Gaughan, completing our quartet, we can't wait to hear them performing together. Have you got your tickets yet?

James was born in Grantham, where he received his early training in singing from Doreen Palmer.
Whilst an economics undergraduate at the University of York, James enjoyed performing in light
opera productions and as part of local choirs.
After graduating with a Masters in Health Economics in 2010, James began working as a researcher
and continued his vocal studies privately with Michael de Costa and later Valerie Parker. In 2012, he
gave his first professional performance as bass soloist in Messiah with Market Rasen and District
Choral Society and Lincoln Pro Musica. James now performs regularly as a soloist with choirs and
choral societies. Previous engagements include with East Riding County Choir; Holmfirth Choral
Society; Hull Choral Union and Ruddington and District Choral Society (Nottingham). Previous pieces
include Elijah (Mendelssohn); Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms); Requiem (Faure); and Nelson Mass
(Haydn).
In 2016, James won a number of local competitive festivals including: the Rosebowl prize at the Mrs
Sunderland Festival (Huddersfield) and Rothwell Festival (Leeds) and Victor Ludorum Shield for
Senior Singing at the Cottingham Festival. He also began giving regular recitals throughout the U.K.
including at Bristol, Carlisle, Manchester, St Mary’s (Edinburgh) and Ripon Cathedrals among others.

In 2020, James combined completing his doctorate in Economics with adding professional choral
singing to his musical life. He is currently a regular dep for the choirs of Bradford and Sheffield
Cathedrals.
As a recitalist, James enjoys creating innovative programmes drawn mainly from the English Song
and Lieder traditions. Well-loved classics and less familiar gems are bound together through spoken
introductions to the internal narrative which inspired the selections.
More details about past experience and upcoming engagements available at
www.jamesgaughan.com and on Facebook.