Upcoming Concert
Spring Concert, 2nd May 2026
7.30pm St Mary’s Church Ambleside
Fauré: Requiem
Rutter: Magnificat
Fauré’s Requiem is widely considered a magnificent and unique masterpiece, celebrated for its serene, luminous, and deeply consoling nature
Booking is now open for our Spring concert. Tickets are £16 in advance (up until a week before the concert), and then £18.
It is only £8 for under 21s.
Book online (link to our booking page). Unreserved seating.
Note: there is a 15p booking fee.
Alternatively, scan this QR code to go to online booking for our Spring Concert
Past Concerts
Christmas Concert, 13th December 2025
Our Christmas concert 2026 featured the Mozart Coronation Mass (K317) and also Mozart’s Regina Coeli (K 276). Along with various Christmas songs and carols.
With thanks to our wonderful soloists, Rachel Little, Sarah Gillian Cox, Christopher Steele and John Lofthouse, and with Simon Mercer on the organ.
Thank you to everyone who came along to support us, and thank you so much for the lovely feedback we received.
Spring Concert 2025
Karl Jenkins: The Armed Man – a Mass for Peace
“Even a week later I am still saying to myself ‘that was a fantastic concert last Saturday’. Both the Gloria and the Armed Man were amazing.”
“The first half was excellent.
The second half was something else. It is not an easy thing to sing and keep your emotion in check. It was absolutely fantastic and very moving.”
Christmas Concert 2024
Haydn: Nelson Mass
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas
Bruckner: Locus Iste
Harold Darke: In the Bleak Midwinter
plus additional songs and carols
“the music soared”
“it was brilliant”
“very professional”
Soloists: Laurie Ashworth, Sarah Jillian Cox, Nicholas Hurndall Smith, Paul Im Thurn.
Organ: Peter Noke
Spring Concert 2024: Vienna’s Golden Age
Laurie Ashworth (soprano)
Wendy Sharrock (mezzo)
Nicholas Hurndall Smith (tenor)
Rob Gildon (bass)
with the Lonsdale Ensemble (leader, Julian Cann)
Juanjo Blázquez (piano)
Conducted by Marco Giudici
Mozart Requiem in D minor
Beethoven Fantasy in C minor for piano, orchestra and chorus (Choral Fantasia)
Haydn Insanae et vanae curae
“We thoroughly enjoyed the evening; as local residents it’s great we have the option to attend a high quality choral / classical event like this on our doorstep. The calibre of the choir and the professionals was excellent, the Pianist exceptional.”
“The Mozart Requiem and Haydn’s Insanae et Vanae Curae were both beautiful, but the real treat was Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia. Less well known yet strangely familiar, this finale brought together superb performances of the choir, the four soloists, the players of the Lonsdale Ensemble and the amazing young Spanish pianist, Juanjo Blázquez.“
“We were so fortunate to be able to experience such an inspiring programme and uplifting performance in the heart of the Lake District.“
This concert was the most ambitious we have ever staged, and featured works by the three greatest composers of the Golden Age of music in Vienna – Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, under the baton of Music Director Marco Giudici. It took the audience on a journey from sorrow to elation, starting with the Mozart’s intense and dramatic Requiem and finishing with Beethoven’s joyful Choral Fantasia, which celebrates the power of words and music to raise mankind to the heights. In between, we performed an exciting chorus by Haydn, Insanae et Vanae Curae.
The Choral Society was joined by the 23-strong Lonsdale Ensemble (led by Julian Cann), and welcomed a brilliant young Manchester-based pianist Juanjo Blázquez, together with four superb soloists – Laurie Ashworth, Wendy Sharrock, Nicholas Hurndall Smith and Robert Gildon.
Christmas Concert 2023
Vivaldi: Magnificat
Zelenka: Magnificat
Ola Gjeilo: Ave Generosa (words by Hildegard of Bingen)
William Byrd: Ave Verum Corpus
also with Christmas music for choir and audience
Conductor: Marco Guiduci
Spring Concert April 2023
Beethoven, Mass in C Major
John Rutter, The Sprig of Thyme. A suite of eleven traditional folk-song settings.
Handel, Zadok the Priest. The traditional Coronation anthem.
Soloists
Rachel Little (soprano),
Sarah Jillian Cox (mezzo),
Christopher Steele (tenor),
Paul Im Thurn (bass),
with the Lonsdale Ensemble
(leader: Julian Cann)
Conductor: Marco Guiduci
Christmas Concert 2022
Soloists: Laurie Ashworth (soprano), Sarah Jillian Cox (mezzo), Nicholas Hurndall Smith (tenor), Jolyon Dodgson (bass)
AnnaKate Pearson – Harp
Charles Edmondson – Organ
Conductor: Marco Guidici
Spring Concert 2022
Mozart: Solemn Vespers
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Vivaldi: Gloria
Soloists: Tracie Penwarden (soprano), Joyce Tindsley (alto), Stephen Newlove (tenor), Ahsley Kirkham (bass)
Julian Cann – violin
Andy Plowman – piano/organ
David Edmonds – organ
Conductors: Jolyon Dodgson, Marco Guiduci
Christmas Concert 2021
Handel’s Messiah
Soloists: Laurie Ashworth (soprano), Anne-Marie Kerr (alto), Adam Crewe (tenor), Jonathan Millican (bass)
The Lonsdale Ensemble
Conductor: Jolyon Dodgson
……………………………………………………………………
8th December 2019 – Puccini Messa Di Gloria and a selection of Christmas Music and Carols
4th May 2019 – Josef Haydn: The Creation
8th December 2018 – Bach’s Christmas Oratorio parts 1-3
28th April 2018 – Mozart Requiem plus Regina Coeli & Haydn: Little Organ Mass; Insanae et Vanae Curae
December 2017 – Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, Ralph Vaughan-Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols and other Christmas music
May 2017 – Vivaldi: Gloria (RV589 and 588)
December 2016 – Haydn: St Nicholas Mass and other Christmas music
May 2016 – Schutz: the Pharisee & the Publican, Woman, why weepest thou, Monteverdi: Mass in Four Voices, Stanford: Songs of the Fleet, Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
December 2015 – Handel: Messiah
May 2015 – various choral pieces by Louis Vierne and Gabriel Faure
December 2014 – Dvorak: Mass in D plus Christmas music
May 2014 – Mozart: Missa Brevis, Divertimento in D, Ave Verum Corpus, Mass in C, Laudate Dominium
December 2013 – Christmas music by Vierne, Faure, Berlioz and others
May 2013 – Handel: Judas Maccabeus
December 2012 – Christmas music by Vivaldi, Britten, Rutter and others
May 2012 – Haydn: Nelson Mass, Handel: Zadok the Priest, Mozart: Solemn Vespers
Ambleside and District Choral Society 