Lord Williams’s Festival Chorus is a long established choir in Thame. We are a friendly choir, which gladly welcomes new members. We have a secure local base and we are looking forward to an exciting future. Our numbers are growing (120 plus now) but we always welcome new faces and voices. You do not need to audition to join us but we do ask that you share our enthusiasm for choral music and its performance.
Our Spring Concert 2022 was dedicated to the people of Ukraine. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of our audience we raised £1,374 in donations which went to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Enjoy singing? Come and join us.
In our spring concert we will be performing Mozart’s Requiem, arguably one of the finest choral masterpieces ever written, along with Haydn’s Nelson Mass.
Rehearsals start on Monday 5th January 2026.
Why not join us? The chorus welcomes new members who are keen to join a friendly choir that tackles interesting and challenging works.
Our rehearsals are held on Monday evenings (term-time only), currently 7.15-9.15pm, at Lord Williams’s Upper School for our Spring and Autumn concerts. Our summer term rehearsals are held at Long Crendon Baptist Church, High Street, Long Crendon HP18 9AF.
Please get in touch or come along and try a couple of free sessions. (No auditions!) Contact Claire at clairehumphries02@gmail.com
Subscriptions, payments for music hire and for concert tickets and other events can be paid at rehearsals.
You can also pay online: LWFC NatWest a/c 69431175, sort code 60-21-21 using your name as a reference with a brief description – such as subs.
Bob Chilcott Workshop – Saturday 8th November
What an absolute joy and privilege to have Bob Chilcott leading a workshop for us on his Christmas Oratorio – and what a truly lovely man he is too!
It was so interesting to hear his take on the piece and why he wrote things as he did. His anecdotes were hugely enjoyable too. Thank you Bob for a fantastic day.
We’re all very excited to perform the Oratorio at our Christmas concert on Saturday 29th November.
Our concerts
In the autumn and spring terms our repertoire usually includes a variety of classical choral music accompanied by the Lord Williams’s Festival Orchestra. In the summer term we often have a “lighter” programme.
Christmas Oratorios by Bob Chilcott and Camille Saint-Saens – 29th November 2025
It was a wonderful start to the Christmas season with two pieces telling the Christmas story in very different styles. The concert was truly special as choir member Lucy Southby made her professional debut, singing the mezzo-soprano part – and she did it in spectacular style. Brava Lucy!!
She was in extremely good company with soprano Penglei Liang, tenor Roberto Ortiz, and bass Stuart Pendred, all in brilliant form. The choir was accompanied by two hugely talented orchestras, with a focus on strings for the Saint-Saens, and brass and flute for the Chilcott. Organ and harp were integral to both pieces.
Unfortunately Bob Chilcott wasn’t able to be at our concert, but following his guidance at our workshop earlier in the month, we hope we did the piece justice!
As always, a huge thank you to our MD Jeff Stewart for his leadership, his constant encouragement and inspiration and for bringing out the best in all of us.
A Night of Musical Theatre – 12th July 2025
On possibly the hottest night of the year we pulled off a triumphant and joyous evening of songs from the Musicals. It certainly was a joy to sing so many wonderful songs from South Pacific, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Les Miserables, and a medley of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classics.
The heat certainly didn’t deter our audience and it was so lovely to see the hall full of smiling faces who were obviously enjoying our performance!
A special mention must go to all the soloists from the choir who put themselves forward and performed so well and with great characterisation. It’s never easy performing amongst your peers, let alone in front of a large audience, but they did it with aplomb. Bravo!
As always, a huge, huge thank you to our MD Jeff Stewart who has really cracked the whip (even though we didn’t do Calamity Jane) this term and succeeded in bringing out the Elaine Paige and Alfie Boe in us all!!
Durufle’s Requiem & Feel the Spirit by John Rutter – 29th March 2025
It was another triumphant performance by the choir with the complex and hauntingly beautiful Requiem by Maurice Durufle in the first half of the evening, followed by the emotional Feel the Spirit, a cycle of seven familiar African-American spirituals arranged by John Rutter. The choir were joined by the glorious voices of Ukrainian Soprano Daria Moskaliuk and British Baritone Andrew Mayor who has sung with us several times before.
As always, our MD Jeff Stewart brought in a group of hugely talented musicians to form the Lord Williams’s Festival Orchestra. It is always an absolute joy to sing with such accomplished performers.
The appreciative audience demanded an encore, resulting in many of them joining in enthusiastically with When the saints go marching in! It rounded off the evening perfectly.
The Armed Man & Misa Criolla – 30th November 2024
It was another packed hall for a dramatic performance of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man. We chose this to mark his 80th birthday this year. The choir and orchestra were outstanding in their delivery of this powerful and moving work, written to mark the millennium and reflecting on ‘the most war-torn and destructive century in human history’ but looking forward in hope to a more peaceful future. Soloists from the choir sang beautifully in the Kyrie, Angry Flames and Now The Guns Have Stopped.
In contrast, the second half of the concert saw the dance rhythms of South America come alive in Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla. We were delighted to welcome Mexican tenor Roberto Ortiz to our stage and to have his gorgeous voice accompany us.
As always, a huge thank you to our MD Jeff Stewart for inspiring and encouraging us in our vocal technique and our performance skills.
Mass in Blue – 29th June 2024
Wow!! What a night. The choir’s performance of Will Todd’s gorgeous Mass in Blue was spectacular. The work is a jazz setting of the traditional Latin Mass with a brilliant blend of driving jazz grooves and clear, strong choral writing. Soprano Melinda Hughes was superb, singing improvisatory jazz lines that reached the stratosphere, and the band comprising Ben Saul on piano, Phil Mercury on alto sax, Rob Ferguson on double bass and Ioan Saul on drums were sensational. The audience and the choir were treated to a second half performance of a selection of jazz classics by the band, with Melinda singing a beautiful and tender rendition of My Funny Valentine and our own MD Jeff Stewart giving us a wonderful Now You Has Jazz from High Society. It was truly a night to remember.
The Creation – March 2024
On March 16th 2024 we celebrated our 50th anniversary by reprising The Creation by Joseph Haydn, which was the very first work performed by the choir in 1974. The choir was on top form, accompanied by fabulous soloists and a wonderful orchestra all led by our Musical Director Jeff Stewart. Invited guests included Thame Mayor Adrian Dite and David Wybron, former head teacher of Lord Williams’s School, along with Karen Ross, former Chair of the choir. Current Chair Vivienne Hall addressed the audience before the performance to explain the significance of the evening’s repertoire and to thank the Town Council for their generous grant towards the concert, and also the people of Thame for their support over the past fifty years. Here’s to the next 50!
See more photos taken by Jay Lynch on our Blog.
Carmina Burana – December 2023
Our 2023 winter concert on 2nd December saw us performing Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to a sell out audience, followed by a selection of Christmas pieces by John Rutter and Holst’s Christmas Day. The evening finished with a roof-raising rendition of Hark! The Herald with fabulous participation by the audience and a joyful Twelve Days of Christmas arranged by Rutter. We were joined in Carmina by three wonderful soloists, a fabulous orchestra and local children’s choir TCC2. Our own very talented pianist Andrew Hoodless accompanied us throughout the whole programme.
See more photos taken by Joe Lynch on our Blog.
Coronation Concert – July 2023
On 1st July 2023 we celebrated the Kings’ Coronation with some truly stunning pieces including Zadok the Priest, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia and Elgar’s wonderful Coronation Ode culminating in Land of Hope and Glory. Led by our wonderful MD Jeff Stewart along with four fabulous soloists and the amazing organist Sam Laughton it was a night to remember. Much flag waving ensued.
See more photos taken by Joe Lynch on our Blog.
Verdi’s Requiem – March 2023
In March 2023 we performed Verdi’s Requiem, one of the biggest and arguably the most operatic of choral works. Under the brilliant direction of our MD Jeff Stewart and with spectacular soloists, a fabulous orchestra and the chorus on their best form, the concert was a sell out and was greeted with a standing ovation and glowing reviews from the audience. It was a good day at the office!
See more photos taken by Jay Lynch on our Blog.
A German Requiem – December 2022
We were thrilled that Paul Carr, the composer of Requiem for an Angel was in our audience at our winter concert on 10th December 2022. We were delighted that he was really pleased with our performance! Here he is with our Musical Director Jeff Stewart. Photo by Jay Lynch.
Winter Concert – December 2022. Photo by Jay Lynch.
Social Events
Along with our concerts we also have a variety of social events from quizzes to termly rambles and tours.
Lord Williams's Festival Chorus 