Am impressively large community choir is gearing to to deliver what has become a popular festive tradition at Ripon Cathedral.

Ripon Choral Society, a highly-rated choir which performs four concerts per year in the magnificent setting of Ripon Cathedral, is preparing for a high point of its 2025-26 season with a performance of Handel’s Messiah.

The event will take place on Saturday, December 13 in collaboration with the Orchestra D’Amici conducted by John Dunford. with Eleonore Cockerham, soprano, Kanchana Jaishankar, alto, James Micklethwaite, tenor, and Terence Ayebare, bass.

Looking ahead to 2026, Ripon Choral Society’s first concert of the year will take place on Saturday, March 28 when it will perform Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality with Olivia Rose Tringham, soprano, and Sam Furness, tenor.

Ripon Choral Society performs four concerts per year in the magnificent setting of Ripon Cathedral. (Picture contributed)

placeholder image — Ripon Choral Society performs four concerts per year in the magnificent setting of Ripon Cathedral. (Picture contributed)

The 2025-26 season will conclude on Saturday, June 13, 2026 with JS Bach’s Magnificat.

The concert will also feature Bach Cantata 51: Sing God’s praise in every land, which is one of Bach’s most sustained virtuoso pieces, as well as Handel’s Dixit Dominus is widely celebrated for its vitality and dazzling complexity.

All concerts in Ripon Choral Society’s new season will start at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available on the door, in person at Ripon Cathedral shop or by email: [email protected]

Book online at: https://riponchoralsociety.org.uk/

Ripon Choral Society is keen to recruit new singing members.

If you can read music, even to a basic standard, come and give them a try as it rehearses the Messiah.

The choir welcomes singers in all four voice parts.

Information: https://riponchoralsociety.org.uk/