Concerts & Events

Next concert : Saturday 21 November 2026

The Armed Man

Our next concert brings together three remarkable British choral masterpieces, each offering a distinctive musical journey. Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (Choral Suite) combines powerful drama with moments of profound reflection, while Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five English Folk Songs celebrates the charm and vitality of England’s traditional melodies. As usual there will be other solo works, and the choir will perform Hubert Parry’s magnificent Blest Pair of Sirens, a soaring setting of Milton’s verse that remains one of the great achievements of the English choral tradition. The concert will be held on Saturday 21st November at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Church in the centre of Uttoxeter where there is plenty of parking closeby. We hope you are able to join us!

2027/28 Concerts

Our Spring Concert in June 2027 will be a performance of St John’s Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. We think it is one of the most compelling and powerful works in the choral repertoire and the choir are looking forward to rehearsing it early next year. The work is a setting of the story of Christ’s Passion, combining wonderful choruses, reflective arias and beautiful chorales. We will perform it with soloists and orchestra in the Priory Church of St Mary Tutbury, with its fabulous accoustic.

Our Autumn Concert will be held in November 2027 and be a concert of lighter musical repertoire. We will update you as soon as we have more details.

Concerts in 2028 are still being developed and will likely include a concert exploring the choral masterpieces of Henry Purcell in May or June, and a performance of Handel’s Messiah in December 2028.

Please note that our plans could be subject to change. 

Last Concert (May 2026) Fauré’s Requiem

Our last concert in Tutbury’s magnificent Priory Church of St Mary’s was a performance of Fauré’s evocative and very popular Requiem. Under the baton of maestro David Smith, we were joined by young soloists from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and organist Tim Sager.  We also sang other dramatic and interesting French songs and choral pieces by Duruflé, Berlioz and Franck. Feedback from our audience was universally excellent. Probably our best perfomance in the last 5 years – an indication of sustained improvement and singing quality.

Highlight from 2025 : Haydn Nelson Mass

On Saturday 22nd November 2025 (7.30pm) we commemorated the 220th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass (“Missa in Angustiis,” or “Mass for Troubled Times”).  It was performed with the Orchestra of St John Bromsgrove and four soloists from the Royal Birmingham Conservertoire.  The concert was a great success – the piece is considered to be one of the greats in the choral repertoire and one of Haydn’s finest. Also on the programme was Vivaldi’s Gloria, which the choir have performed many times before. To put on this concert, we acknowledge and are very thankful for the grant received from the J&O Lloyd Fund via the Community Foundation of Staffordshire & Shropshire.

2024 Concerts

In May 2024 we performed Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestra of St John, Bromsgrove and four brilliant soloists from the Birmingham Conservertoire. We got a great review in local media and a video on facebook had over 6k hits!

On 7 December 2024, UCS performed a seasonal concert centred on traditional folk songs and carols including the Sprig of Thyme, a delightful suite of British and Irish ballads set by John Rutter for four-part choir. We were also invited to be the Lead choir for the Princess of Wales special Carols Service on 13 December. This was performed at Westminster Abbey and at St Mary’s in Uttoxeter, one of only 15 chosen locations around the UK. It was covered in the Regional News.