About us
Sturminster Choral Society is a registered charity No.1086285
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"Our aim is to advance public education in music, in particular through the performance of public concerts"
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Over the years we have performed most of the great works of choral music – from Bach, Brahms, Haydn and Mozart to Rossini, Rutter, Vivaldi and Vaughan Williams. Alan Hannah, who set up the choir in 1963, continued to conduct us until 1974 returning briefly (as a singing member) in 1994. Since then we have been fortunate to be led by Caroline D'Cruz, and currently by Annemarie Lees.
Director of Music - Annemarie Lees studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music with Kenneth Bowen and afterwards with Josephine Veasey with whom she won many awards. She has been a freelance BBC singer and soprano soloist in a wide variety of masses, cantatas and oratorios throughout the British Isles. In recent years the versatility of her voice has been heard not only in choral works throughout Italy and Spain, but also at recitals of songs by Stephen Sondheim at the Edinburgh Fringe. Annemarie recently retired from the post of Director of Music at Knighton House School in Blandford and now teaches singing privately. She is delighted to be involved once again with Sturminster Choral Society.
Accompanist - Caroline D’Cruz was Musical Director of Sturminster Choral Society from 2006 until 2015 and we are delighted to have her back with the choir in a different role as our accompanist. Having studied at Chethams and the Royal College of Music, Caroline has had a varied career working mainly with singers but also with chamber ensembles. She is also the Musical Director of Milborne Port Opera, pianist for the Jurrasic Coast Choir in Devon, has played on several cruises for Absolutely Opera, Company Manager of the Celebrate Voice Festival in Salisbury, a regular pianist for Opera Nights in a number of local restaurants and accompanies singers in the Southwest and London. Previous roles include chorus répétiteur for Dorset Opera and Musical Director for numerous shows for Shaftesbury Arts Centre.
Chairman David Longfoot
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It is an immense privilege to be elected to chair the committee of the Sturminster Choral Society, a society that has run successfully for over 60 years!
The Society exists because the members are keen to sustain and develop their love of choral singing, but to make sure this happens smoothly requires a dedicated organisational team to perform the wide range of support tasks.
During my term of office, I hope to maintain the health of the Society, to see our numbers increase and also to see our musical confidence grow!
We have the benefit of excellent professional support in AnneMarie and Caroline, and their musical contacts across the region ensure that our concerts can be enhanced with the best soloists and accompanists.
I hope that anyone considering joining will have the courage to give us a try! We have all had to start somewhere, and improvement will only come through practice. Technical skills take time to develop and you will find this comes naturally alongside the friendly encouragement that the Society provides.