The Festival Chorus vs. Huddersfield Choral Society

The Festival Chorus is a key part of every Festival. The Chorus consists of about 120 singers, many of whom are involved in SMF in other ways - as hosts or committee members or whatever. Sunday night of SMF always features a choral piece where the Festival Chorus sing with the orchestra in residence (the RSNO this year). Rehearsals for the performance begin in the New Year, and in recent years the pre-Festival rehearsals have been part of the Conducting Course, giving the conductors a chance to test out their skills. This year is unique in that the Festival Chorus will be joined by over 60 members of the Huddersfield chorus for a performance of Vaughn Williams' Sea Symphony with the RSNO. Today I receieved a report from someone in the Festival Chorus describing last night's rehearsal with the Huddersfield chorus:

The first rehearsal of the combined Festival Chorus and Huddersfield chorus members was an outstanding success. The injection of 60-odd new singers brought the sound up to a symphony-orchestra-defying level, no more than is required for the mammoth Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. After the lengthy process of allocating seats to each chorus member, the first massive 'Behold, the sea!' evoked a collective spine-tingling and not a few moist eyes. Such moments seemed to happen with alarming frequency throughout the rehearsal; God knows what it'll be like when the RSNO join us!