Our History

There has been a choral society in Watford for well over a hundred years, known first as the Oratorio Society and subsequently as the Choral Union.

To mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary in 1935, Leslie Regan – then professor at the Royal Academy of Music and indomitable Principal of the Watford School of Music – organised a musical celebration in the town as a fitting recognition of the occasion. The Choral Union was joined by several other local choirs to form The Watford Jubilee Choir, with a combined force of around 200 voices and a largely amateur orchestra accompanying them. Together they presented a concert in the Plaza Cinema conducted by the great Sir Henry Wood, whose services had been enlisted by his friend Leslie Regan. At the time Sir Henry had a strong local connection, for many years maintaining a home in Chorleywood. 

The Silver Jubilee programme consisted of works by three of the finest 20th Century English composers (Elgar, Holst and Delius) all of whom had died during the previous year, with Leslie Regan’s own introductory and prescient words paving a way to the formation of the Society as we know it today.

‘No time could be better chosen for this action of communal honouring than the Jubilee year, the twenty-fifth of HM King George’s reign. At this moment we are joining together to celebrate all sides of our country’s greatness, and this musical side must not be neglected. But no such celebration should be static or look only to the past. It is rather a start for future effort. It was felt that only co-operative effort would be fitting for this celebration, not, we trust, only for this concert, which is so soon past. Rather it should be the foundation of a permanent joining of the musical interests of the town, the foundation of a continued communal effort in music that will bind all us citizens together in our search for the artistic ideal. So may this tribute, this Jubilee, this co-operative effort, become of permanent value to the town and help it to lead the way to other towns in its musical life.’

(1935 Concert Programme)

Sir Henry’s association with the event guaranteed its success and so inspired the participants that they did indeed decide to create a new and permanent society of singers and instrumentalists, with Sir Henry as its first President. Thus in 1940, performing as the Watford & District Philharmonic Society, they topped the bill in an inaugural concert at the new and acoustically acclaimed Watford Town Hall – more familiar to us now as The Colosseum.

Over the years, the Society has performed on stage at the Colosseum together with many world-famous artists of the 20^th century. Among the greatest have been Isobel Baillie and Margaret Price (vocalists); Dennis Brain (horn player); Ida Haendel and Benno Moiseiwitsch (violinists) and Myra Hess and Clifford Curzon (pianists). In more recent times, the Society has played host to rising stars from the Royal Opera House and English National Opera, including locally based artists Emily Rowley-Jones, Milly Forrest and Andrew O’Connor alongside well-established sopranos Mary Bevan, Kiera Lyness and Serbian baritone Božidar Smiljanić. Our two distinguished patrons, horn player David Pyatt and operatic baritone Andrew Shore have also topped the bill for us on several occasions. Browse our fully searchable collection of concert programmes HERE.

Since giving our very first concert at the newly opened Colosseum in 1940, we performed there almost continuously until its recent closure for major refurbishment. Very few amateur musicians have the benefit of a performance venue with such a fine acoustic, widely held to be amongst the best in Europe, and the added advantage of a professionally managed auditorium with seating capacity in excess of 1,000.

We have also been privileged on occasions to join forces with other local choirs in performances at iconic venues such as St Alban’s Abbey and at the Royal Festival Hall as well as going ‘on tour’ to Mainz in Germany; Carlow in the Republic of Ireland and – quite splendidly – twice to Bermuda where Graham Garton, a former conductor, had relocated as Music Director of the Bermuda Philharmonic Society.

Closer to home, the Society was invited to participate in the John Lewis 21^st birthday celebration in its store in the former Harlequin Centre in Watford, where we gave a Saturday afternoon concert in the atrium, captivating shoppers as they moved up and down the escalators. And when Saracens shared the Vicarage Road stadium with the Hornets, we provided rugby fans with some unusual half time entertainment in the middle of the pitch, belting out Nessun Dorma in a performance to rival the Three Tenors!

We look forward to celebrating our 100^th anniversary in 2035 with every expectation of upholding our founder conductor’s commitment to keeping great music alive and accessible to our local community well into the future.