About the Choir

The choir was founded in 1914 by devoted amateur musician, Alan Kirby and its first performance of Handel's Messiah, was staged for the benefit of Belgian refugees at the start of WW1.  It soon became recognised as one of the best choirs in the country, particularly for its performances of Elgar. The choir came to occupy a position at the heart of the Croydon community and built a strong national reputation for excellence. Alan Kirby was a friend of Sir Edward Elgar, and the choir became renowned for its performances of Sir Edward’s work. Kirby knew other giants of British contemporary music among them Ralph Vaughan Williams who lived nearby and wrote a piece for the choir, A Choral Flourish. Vaughan Williams’ widow, Ursula, was a vice president of the choir for many years.

Kirby conducted the Choir until his death in 1959. Since then, it has had just four more music directors. The fourth, David Gibson, stepped down at the end of the 2025/26 after 27 very successful and memorable years. The Choir now looks forward to working with its newly appointed Music Director, Andrew Moore from September 2026. More about Andrew here

We currently have around 70 members, from a range of ages and backgrounds.  We attract new members every year, while some members have been singing with us for many years. We perform in venues in the Croydon area, including the Fairfield Halls with its excellent acoustic. The choir’s president is the world-renowned trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins and it has two vice-presidents, international soprano Erica Eloff and  distinguished pianist and organist, our regular accompanist, Ian le Grice.

We seek to be an open and friendly mixed voice choir, which achieves high standards of performance while remaining accessible to singers with a wide range of musical experience. We have a wide repertoire, ranging from baroque and classic choral pieces to contemporary and modern music.  Major choral works we have performed include Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Bach’s B Minor Mass and Brahms' Requiem, interspersed with pieces by living composers such as Bob Chilcott, Karl Jenkins, Morten Lauridsen and Will Todd.

We have a firmly rooted policy and practice of welcoming people of all backgrounds, who are keen to learn and improve their musical ability. Prospective new members are given a voice consultation with our Music Director, rather than a more formal audition. They are expected to have a basic knowledge of musical notation as we work from music scores but are not required to be able to sight-read, although this is an advantage. The choir offers support to help develop musical ability, including access to practice files. 

We rehearse at St Matthew’s Church, Croydon most Tuesday evenings between September and early July, with rehearsals scheduled from 7.15 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. Once a month we have a longer social break ("Cake in the break!") in the middle of the rehearsal and the evening finishes at 9.30 p.m.

Croydon Philharmonic Society is a Registered Charity (No. 213084) led by the trustees, who constitute its Committee.

We always welcome new members.  Join us!