Rochester Choral Society Summer Concert 2026

Rochester Choral Society Summer Concert 2026 On Saturday 11th July Rochester Choral Society will celebrate 153 years of community singing by performing a strikingly different concert. We will be presenting MAKE MORE SAIL, an original cantata about the Battle of Trafalgar, composed by our very own Director of Music, Adrian Bawtree. Seen through the eyes of John Pasco, the Signal Officer aboard HMS Victory, this is the story behind the flag signals including Admiral Lord Nelson’s famous “England expects every man to do his duty”, Conducted by Adrian himself, and featuring tenor Greg Hassell as Horatio Nelson and soprano Bella Marslen as Emma, Lady Hamilton, we are excited to sing this work at the beautiful St. Augustine’s Church in Gillingham, so near to Chatham Dockyard where HMS Victory was built. Accompanied by a chamber orchestra, this is a rollicking, heartfelt, maritime-inspired tale of adventure and passion. Francis Poulenc’s GLORIA is one of the French composer’s most brilliant and life-affirming works. Composed in 1960, the piece is lively in character, rhythmically inventive and mystical in quality, expressing the composer’s profound faith. A firm favourite of our 75 singers, we are lucky to have the organist from Rochester Cathedral, Robbie Carroll, to accompany this choral masterpiece. Tickets are available on the door and on our website https://www.rochesterchoral.co.uk/tickets