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Author: Chris Green

  • Ronnie Frost: Part 2 – The Hallé Choir Years

    Ronnie Frost: Part 2 – The Hallé Choir Years

    In the first part of this blog I summarised the career of Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Frost, organist and choirmaster, up until the time he took charge of the Hallé Choir in 1972. In part two I will take the story through his years with the choir and beyond up to his death in 2015. I will…

  • Ronnie Frost: Part 1 – The Early Years

    Ronnie Frost: Part 1 – The Early Years

    In October 2025 a concert was given at the historic St Ann’s Church in the heart of Manchester to celebrate the life of one of the city’s most beloved musical characters who had passed away 10 years before. That man was Ronald Frost, known to all and sundry simply as ‘Ronnie’. I have mentioned him…

  • The Semi-Chorus: Part 3 – James Challoner Heaton & Lillie Hutton

    The Semi-Chorus: Part 3 – James Challoner Heaton & Lillie Hutton

    In this final post about choir members who sang in the semi-chorus for choir performances of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, I will pick up the strands I touched on previously with the stories of Margaret Hudson and Ernest Houghey. Firstly, I will tell the story of James Challoner Heaton who like Ernest Houghey used the…

  • The Semi-Chorus: Part 2 – Ernest Houghey

    The Semi-Chorus: Part 2 – Ernest Houghey

    Following on from my last post about Margaret Hudson I look at another semi-chorus member, Ernest Houghey, who sang in the first Hallé performance of Gerontius before embarking on a career that encompassed opera at Covent Garden, property development in Surrey and Sussex, a final chapter in the sunshine of California and much more besides.

  • The Semi-Chorus: Part 1 – Margaret Hudson

    The Semi-Chorus: Part 1 – Margaret Hudson

    This post discusses the way a choir such as the Hallé Choir is structured in terms of voice parts, with particular emphasis on the role of the semi-chorus. Looking at members who have sung in the semi-chorus in the Dream of Gerontius it focuses on Margaret Hudson and her long life of devotion to education…

  • Hallé Choir Knights Part 2 – Bliss, Willcocks, Groves, Boult and Davis

    Hallé Choir Knights Part 2 – Bliss, Willcocks, Groves, Boult and Davis

    Moving into the 1950s we continue our survey of Hallé Choir conducting knights with discussions of Arthur Bliss, David Willcocks, Charles Groves, Adrian Boult and Andrew Davis.

  • Hallé Choir Knights Part 1: Sullivan, Stanford, Elgar and Wood

    Hallé Choir Knights Part 1: Sullivan, Stanford, Elgar and Wood

    During its lifetime the Hallé Choir has been conducted by many men who were, or became, knights of the realm. Many were of course principal conductors of the orchestra. We begin a survey of other conducting knights with Arthur Sullivan, before moving on to Charles Villiers Stanford, Edward Elgar and Henry Wood.

  • Make A Joyful Noise – The Hallé Choir on TV

    Make A Joyful Noise – The Hallé Choir on TV

    Introduction In my previous blog describing the Hallé Choir’s history of radio broadcasts I noted that February 5th, 2025 marked the 100th anniversary of the choir’s first appearance on radio, a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius relayed live from the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Within this blog I will look at the choir’s…

  • Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n

    Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n

    In a previous blog I described how in his nearly 25 years at the helm of the Hallé Orchestra Mark Elder revolutionised the choral landscape in Manchester with the pyramid of choirs he helped set up, at the top of which is the choir that Charles Hallé set up all those years ago and that…