The Northampton Bach Choir owes its formation to Denys Pouncey, then organist of St. Matthew’s Church in the Kettering Road, Northampton, giving its first concert there on Palm Sunday 1936. From the small beginnings of some thirty six singers it has grown in stature, size and reputation to become one of the foremost choruses in the region. During its time it has nurtured a series of young, enthusiastic, not to say visionary, musical directors, who have cajoled the choir into singing a huge range of styles of choral music over the seven decades of its existence.
Concert tours to the Northampton Twin Towns of Poitiers and Marburg, and a joint concert with Ensemble Josquin des Prés of Poitiers in Derngate to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the granting of Northampton’s Charter were a highlight in international co-operation. In April 2009 the Choir returned to Marburg and sang two highly acclaimed concerts of mainly English Choral Music in St. Peter’s Church in nearby Geissen, and in the famous Elisabethkirche in Marburg. Earlier this month it gave the European Premiere of the American composer Craig Phillips’ Dies Gratiae – Requiem Reflections in St. Matthew’s Church to great critical acclaim.
The Choir has sung its way through most of the major works in the choral repertoire, and whilst always maintaining St. Matthew’s Church, Northampton, as its home base, the opening of the Derngate Concert Hall saw the choir broaden its repertoire further, with larger scale works, that were unsuitable for performance in church. This facility has also enabled it to perform with international orchestras such as the Hague Philharmonic under Ivan Fischer, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Owain Arwel Hughes, and the composer Tolga Kashif, together with joint concerts with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra.
On a lighter note it recorded two programmes with Harry Secombe for his programme Highway, taken part in open air concerts at Althorp and in performances of Music in Flight at Sywell. In September 2007, the Choir appointed its current Musical Director Lee Dunleavy. Future plans include a performance of Bach’s great St. Matthew Passion with the accompaniment of the period orchestra Charivari Agréable on the 13th March 2010, a Grand Opera Gala with the RPO and the Royal Choral Society in the Royal Albert Hall, London on 28th June, and a performance of Rachmaninov’s Vespers on 13th November 2010.