Current members Anne Adams, Darius Battiwalla, Jo Briddock, Marianne Grayson and Ros Hobson
Key responsibility: to explore potential events and repertoire for those events, and for SICS concerts in conjunction with the Halle Concert Society, in line with SPC’s strategic aims.
Membership of the Repertoire Planning Group (RPG) is open to professionals and members of the Chorus but must include the Music Director (MD), who shall lead the group, and at least two trustees and two members from the Chorus. The Chorus participants shall serve for two consecutive years.
Terms and Conditions
- A member of RPG can resign at any time, giving at least three months’ notice wherever possible to enable timely replacement.
- Overall responsibility for issues delegated to RPG lies with the Chorus Trustees.
- RPG is responsible for allocating actions to individuals and ensuring that these actions are progressed.
- RPG must keep a record of group meetings and report their decisions and actions to trustees.
- Some decisions about Sheffield International Concert season (SICS) concerts may fall outside the remit of SPC, its trustees and RPG, and will be determined by the Halle Concert Society in conjunction with the Chorus MD.
- Trustees will review these Terms and Conditions every three years.
How the Chorus music programme is organised
The Sheffield International Concert Season (SICS) is organised by the Halle Concert Society (HCS) and Sheffield City Hall, which is run by ASM Global. HCS is the over-arching organisation that deals with the affairs of the Halle orchestra and chorus and all the associated subsidiary groups. ASM Global took over the running of the City Hall in 2024; it was previously run by a social enterprise (Sheffield City Trust).
Darius has discussions with the Halle Concert Society about works that could form part of the International Concert Season, including works suggested by the Repertoire Planning Group and by chorus members. For example, we have gradually sung most of the works that were suggested by chorus members via a survey that was conducted some years ago, so we’ll be conducting another survey in the near future.
Detailed discussions between Darius and HCS focus on practical musical issues such as the size of the orchestra required, likely rehearsal requirements, availability of particular instrumentalists or soloists, availability of conductors and where they – and the orchestra – are working immediately before and after the proposed concert in Sheffield etc. Darius says ‘Putting together the whole season is very much a jigsaw and by the time all the various factors have been taken into account the actual choice of repertoire is quite constrained‘.
Costs obviously play a part in deciding what the annual programme is able to be. The costs are such that roughly two thirds of tickets must be sold for an orchestral concert to break even, more if the orchestra is large and the soloists expensive. Choral concerts are more expensive, because of the costs involved in erecting the choir risers, expanding the stage so an orchestra still fits, and removing the seats in the stalls; more than three quarters of the tickets must be sold for a choral concert to break even. This has affected the number of choral concerts that the City Hall and the Halle Concert Society have felt able to support in Sheffield over the last few years, especially since ticket sales clearly show that choral concerts have unfortunately generated smaller audiences.
The Chorus has responded to these issues by performing more self-financed concerts, aided by generous sponsors and people donating their services for free. Examples include the Messiah concert sponsored by Bill Smyllie, the Vaughan Williams concert sponsored by Julie Smethurst and others, and the Britten War Requiem, which was sponsored by Steve Terry. These concerts were also supported from chorus funds, in accordance with our purpose as a registered Charity.
The chorus may need to continue run self-financed concerts alongside those organised as part of the SICS, in order to secure a vibrant and exciting annual programme.