About the Consort
At the beginning of October 1983, John S. North invited nine singers to join him for the first practice of a new chamber choir. The meeting took place in St. Peter’s Convent, Horbury, near Wakefield. It was the first meeting of St. Peter’s Consort, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2018.
Consort has given three subscription concerts each year since its formation. It also raises money for church funds and charities by the giving of recitals and has made regular Cathedral visits to sing services when resident choirs are on vacation.
The choir has sung in more than half the Cathedrals of England and has taken its music making to North Wales and Scotland. It has sung services in Westminster Abbey, St. Georges Chapel Windsor, Notre-Dâme Paris, and in the major churches of Bruges, Ghent and Brussels. There have been over 300 concerts and services. Several professional recordings have been made and there have been four live broadcasts on Radio 4. Thousands of pounds have been raised for charities and local church funds.
John North relinquished his position as Musical Director in December 2008 after 25 years at the helm, and was succeeded in January 2009 by Tom Moore, who became Director of Music for Wakefield Cathedral in 2010. Tom was succeeded in January 2016 by Sachin Gunga, who was then Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral .
Sachin became Sub-Organist at Portsmouth Cathedral in January 2018. He said that "I will be sorry to end my time working with such a dedicated and skilled ensemble, and I have greatly enjoyed making music with them all."
Philip Collin was appointed as our new Director with effect from 21st February 2018. He moved on in 2020 to become Director of Halifax Choral society. We are fortunate to have the services of James Bowstead as acting MD when rehearsals restart.
Consort sings a wide range of secular and sacred music, both accompanied and unaccompanied, from the fifteenth century to the present day. It regularly gives concerts with guest artistes. Handel's Messiah was performed in December 2013 together with The Cathedral Strings and professional soloists.; this joint concert with twenty singers was hailed by the Wakefield Express as "superb in all respects". 2014 was highlighted by a performance of John Rutter's Gloria with Austonley Brass, whose director commented that "between us we crafted a stylish performance that blended the sounds of the choir, brass and organ wonderfully". For Sachin's last concert in December 2017, Consort was joined by harpist Rhian Evans for a performance of Britten's Ceremony of Carols.
Consort can be booked to give concerts for local church funds or charities. It is also available to sing at weddings. Please click the Contact Us button for further details.
Please click on the links at the foot of our Home page to hear samples of our work.
Musical Director - James Bowstead
James Bowstead is Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, where directs the choir for the daily services and contributes to the training and rehearsal of the boy and girl choristers. He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford, where he was the Senior Organ Scholar, responsible for directing the voluntary choir, with whom he toured to Cologne, Bratislava, Vienna, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Whilst at Oxford he studied organ with Steven Grahl and choral conducting with Paul Spicer. He graduated in 2015, following which he worked as Organist in Residence at Pangbourne College in Berkshire and Organ Scholar at All Saints Church, Fulham, home to one of the best amateur church choirs in the country, and then as Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral.
He gained his FRCO in Winter 2018 and has given recitals at Jesus and Exeter Colleges, Oxford, at the 2015 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, and as part of the inaugural recital series on the newly-restored organ at the Moot Hall in Colchester. He is also a composer and arranger, having had works recorded by the Choir of Jesus College, Oxford for Regent, published by Novello and performed in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales.
Our previous Directors:
John North 1983 - 2008
Tom Moore 2008 - 2015
Sachin Gunga 2015 - 2017
Philip Collin 2017 - 2020
Our Committee
Colin Powell (Chairman)
Julie Stephenson (Treasurer)
Anita Relinš
(Secretary)
Richard Gadsby (Friends & Publicity Officer)
Emily Beal (Social Media)
Soprano
Jill Benn, Amanda Fitzsimons,
Luke Marsh-Muir, Anita Reliņš, Lucy Reliņš, Julie Stephenson, Kay Yates
Tenor
Michael Benn, Chris Fawcett, Colin Powell
Contralto
Barbara Bancroft, Emily Beal, Heather Blundell, Janette Fraser, Joyce Sandham
Bass
Charles Beal, Tom Drayson,
Richard Gadsby, Adrian Stephenson
Over the years, new members have joined and some have left but St. Peter’s Consort remains a loyal, committed band of singers, who enjoy the friendship of each other and work hard to produce music of a high standard.
At the beginning of October 1983, John S. North invited nine singers to join him for the first practice of a new chamber choir. The meeting took place in St. Peter’s Convent, Horbury, near Wakefield. It was the first meeting of St. Peter’s Consort, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2018.
Consort has given three subscription concerts each year since its formation. It also raises money for church funds and charities by the giving of recitals and has made regular Cathedral visits to sing services when resident choirs are on vacation.
The choir has sung in more than half the Cathedrals of England and has taken its music making to North Wales and Scotland. It has sung services in Westminster Abbey, St. Georges Chapel Windsor, Notre-Dâme Paris, and in the major churches of Bruges, Ghent and Brussels. There have been over 300 concerts and services. Several professional recordings have been made and there have been four live broadcasts on Radio 4. Thousands of pounds have been raised for charities and local church funds.
John North relinquished his position as Musical Director in December 2008 after 25 years at the helm, and was succeeded in January 2009 by Tom Moore, who became Director of Music for Wakefield Cathedral in 2010. Tom was succeeded in January 2016 by Sachin Gunga, who was then Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral .
Sachin became Sub-Organist at Portsmouth Cathedral in January 2018. He said that "I will be sorry to end my time working with such a dedicated and skilled ensemble, and I have greatly enjoyed making music with them all."
Philip Collin was appointed as our new Director with effect from 21st February 2018. He moved on in 2020 to become Director of Halifax Choral society. We are fortunate to have the services of James Bowstead as acting MD when rehearsals restart.
Consort sings a wide range of secular and sacred music, both accompanied and unaccompanied, from the fifteenth century to the present day. It regularly gives concerts with guest artistes. Handel's Messiah was performed in December 2013 together with The Cathedral Strings and professional soloists.; this joint concert with twenty singers was hailed by the Wakefield Express as "superb in all respects". 2014 was highlighted by a performance of John Rutter's Gloria with Austonley Brass, whose director commented that "between us we crafted a stylish performance that blended the sounds of the choir, brass and organ wonderfully". For Sachin's last concert in December 2017, Consort was joined by harpist Rhian Evans for a performance of Britten's Ceremony of Carols.
Consort can be booked to give concerts for local church funds or charities. It is also available to sing at weddings. Please click the Contact Us button for further details.
Please click on the links at the foot of our Home page to hear samples of our work.
Founded in 1983, Consort celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2018.
A performance of Handel's Messiah at St John's Church in Wakefield on 11 December 2013 provided a worthy climax to the choir's 30th year celebrations. The performance with just twenty singers, a small orchestra and soloists, was described by The Wakefield Express as "Messiah as it was intended on an evening of musical excellence".
During Easter week 2008 Consort visited Belgium to celebrate the choir's silver jubilee. Staying in the beautiful city of Bruges the party of 44, made up of family and friends, had a splendid week - an excellent way to celebrate twenty five years of music-making. The choir included six founder members - Denise and Neil Crossley, Eileen Hulme, Ernie Lowe, plus Adrian and Julie Stephenson, both of whom still sing in the choir. Well received concerts were given in the magnificent cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent; in Bruges in the lovely Church of Our Lady; in the glorious Cathedral of St. Salvator and in the beautiful Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, Brussels, which is the national church of Belgium.
For the 20th anniversary the choir visited Paris where it performed at Notre-Dâme Cathedral; the American Cathedral; St-Sulpice and St-Germain-des-Près.
Westminster Abbey was the venue for Consort's 10th anniversary year, which also included a live BBC4 radio broadcast from Wakefield Cathedral.
Consort performed a second BBC radio broadcast in 1998, and two in 1999.
Consort is proud to have sung services and/or concerts in many of the country's most important churches including Beverley Minster; Birmingham Cathedral; Bradford Cathedral; Bridlington Priory; Carlisle Cathedral (twice); Chester Cathedral; Coventry Cathedral (three times); Derby Cathedral; Downside Abbey; Durham Cathedral; St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh; Ely Cathedral; Gloucester Cathedral; Hereford Cathedral; Lancaster Priory; Lichfield Cathedral; Lincoln Cathedral; Liverpool Cathedral; Newcastle Cathedral; Peterborough Cathedral; Ripon Cathedral; St. Asaph Cathedral; Sheffield Cathedral; Southwell Minster; St. Mary Redcliffe Bristol; Wells Cathedral; Westminster Abbey; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle; Worcester Cathedral and York Minster, and has regularly sung services in Wakefield Cathedral.
