Berkhamsted Choral Society is a thriving 80-strong mixed voice choir, made up of singers from a variety of walks of life and a wide geographical area. It is proud of its 70-plus years of music-making, and that its roots are still firmly within the town.

The choir sings a wide range of music from the classical repertoire: Renaissance to contemporary, both unaccompanied and full-scale symphonic works.

Between two and four concerts are held each year. Our major concert in early summer is usually accompanied by the Gaudeamus Orchestra, made up of top professional musicians.

In alternate years, the Society joins forces with Chorleywood Choral Society to perform a major work in St Alban's Abbey. In 1999 this was Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. Of the 2001 performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius a critic wrote: “A spellbinding performance… I hope that these two excellent choirs will come together again in the grand surroundings of St Albans Abbey.” Bucks Examiner

A concert of seasonal music is always performed in the town in early December. Successful summer concert tours of the Rhineland in 2001 and Brittany in 2002 are to be followed with three concerts in Belgium planned for August 2003.

Other plans include a performance of Handel’s Messiah just after Easter 2004, a Graham Greene festival concert in autumn 2004, to commemorate the centenary of the author’s birth in the town, and a celebratory concert in 2005, the Choir’s 75th Anniversary year.

Graham Wili is musical director of Berkhamsted Choral Society, Chorleywood Choral Society and The Gaudeamus Singers. He divides his time equally between conducting, singing and teaching. He studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music and in addition to the operatic roles he has sung he regularly sings as tenor soloist for many choirs. He is featured on a CD recorded at Worth Abbey. He enjoys a busy concert schedule and sings with European Voices, Collegium Musicum 90, Richard Hickox Singers and the Choir of the Enlightenment. He is often invited to sing with the BBC National Chorus of Wales.

In June 2001 he sang with English National Opera Studio in a contemporary opera project. He has also sung with Garsington Opera in their 1997 festival, and with Grange Park Opera in 1998 and in 2000, when he was also chorus master for Eugene Onegin. He was chorus master for Bromley Opera’s 2000 production of Madame Butterfly.

Since he started conducting in 1995 he has been in great demand with many choirs for coaching and running courses. He regularly works with the Lloyd’s choir on voice coaching. In June 1999 he conducted his combined choirs in a performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in St Albans Abbey. He returned with them to the Abbey in October 2001 for a highly acclaimed performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. He is Principal Conductor of the Gaudeamus Orchestra and the Gaudeamus Chamber Orchestra. Future engagements include conducting Berkhamsted Choral Society on their tour to Belgium and both his choral societies in a joint concert in September. With the Gaudeamus Singers he will conduct their next concert in November and plans to make their first CD recording in 2004.

Robin Walker studied organ at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and was awarded DipRAM, the Academy’s highest award. He works as an organ recitalist and accompanist. Recent recitals have included Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Southwark and Westminster Cathedrals. Robin has appeared as soloist in Handel and Poulenc concertos, in St James Piccadilly and in the Amersham Music Festival respectively. He is in demand as an accompanist, which had led to two recent European tours accompanying the Berkhamsted Choral Society, and concerts in Stratford-upon-Avon and Hemel Hempstead. As an orchestral player Robin has performed Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in St Albans Abbey and Britten’s St Nicholas in Chorleywood.

He has appeared on national independent television and on BBC television and radio. He also premiered and recorded a work by Nimrod Borenstein, broadcast on Israeli radio, and has toured Europe to countries including Hungary, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany and France.

Robin combines his playing with choral conducting. He is a visiting lecturer at the City University, London, where he directs the chamber choir, and he is Director of Music of St Giles-in-the-Fields Parish Church in central London. Robin is also Musical Director of the Cantate Choir in Tonbridge, Kent.