70 years of hitting all the right notes for Wellingborough Orpheus Choir

Wellingborough Orpheus Choir will be celebrating its 70th anniversary with a very special performance.

Founded in 1953 by local publican and musician Frank Stalvies, the choir’s first public performance was of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in the Congregational Church in Wellingborough’s High Street.

Today’s choir will be celebrating its platinum jubilee with a performance of the same work in the same church on Saturday, April 1.

The choir’s chairman, Keith Jones said: “Our numbers have not yet returned to pre-Covid levels, so we have invited our musical director’s other choir, the Camerata Singers from Kettering, to join us for the performance, but we hope that the opportunity to sing such a popular work as ‘Messiah’, with an orchestra, will attract both former members and new singers from the Wellingborough area.

"We are particularly short of tenors and basses but would welcome singers in all sections.

"You don’t have to be able to sight-read music, there are no auditions, and the first term’s membership is free.”

The choir rehearses under the leadership of musical director Nicolas Moodie on Monday evenings from 7.30pm to 9.15pm at Wellingborough Methodist Church in Kingsway.

For more information email [email protected], visit the choir’s website at www.orpheuschoir.org.uk or follow them on Facebook.

The anniversary concert is being supported by Wilson Browne Solicitors, BCC Telemarketing and Wellingborough Town Council.