Current Season

Saturday 1 November 2025, St Marie’s Cathedral

Pipes and Voices – a choral and organ celebration

A concert to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the cathedral’s magnificent and newly-restored TC Lewis organ. The programme will include a number of organ solos and duets, and the following wonderful choral works:

• Jonathan Dove Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars
• Cassie White for music like the sea
• Stanford Blue Bird
• Coleridge Taylor Lea Shore & Summer is Gone
• Balfour Gardiner Evening Hymn
• Lili Boulanger Hymne au Soleil
• Durufle motets

The programme includes the world premiere of for music like the sea by Sheffield-based Cassie White, who won second place in the Stella Jockel Young Composer Competition organised by the Chorus. It featured Lili Boulanger’s wonderful Hymne au Soleil and will culminate in a performance of the rarely-performed Messe Solonnelle by Jean Langlais, a marvellous work for choir and two organs – a real treat for lovers of organ music and majestic choral works alike!

Chorus Music Director Darius Battiwalla will conduct the choir; he will also play the organ. As befits a concert celebrating this wonderful instrument, there will be two further organists – Neil Taylor and James Mitchell. A real treat for organ and choral enthusiasts alike!

Tickets will be available online and on the door on the night.

Tuesday 9 December 2025, 7.30pm, City Hall. 

Home Alone with live orchestra and chorus

A real Christmas treat – the Halle orchestra and Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus playing and singing live to accompany a big-screen showing of the popular film “Home Alone”. A true holiday favourite, this beloved comedy classic features renowned composer John Williams’ charming and delightful score performed live to picture. Hilarious and heart-warming, Home Alone is holiday fun for the entire family! Featuring Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night and other favourite carols. Not to be missed!

Tickets available online or in person from the City Hall box office.

Saturday 13 December 2025, 2.30, City Hall

Brass and voice annual Christmas Carol Concert

Another Christmas treat – our annual carol concert with the world famous Black Dyke Band, with presenter Josie D’Arby from the BBC Proms.

Take some time out from the hustle and bustle of all the Christmas preparations – from shopping and wrapping, to decorating and card writing – with this sparkling seasonal celebration. Join us for an afternoon filled with carols for choir, audience singalongs and musical gems for the band.  The programme includes time-honoured pieces such as O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells and The Lamb as well as the popular songs White Christmas and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Tickets are available online or in person from the City Hall box office.

Friday 6 February 2026, City Hall

ARVO PÄRT Adam’s Lament

Manchester Camerata and conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh, described by BBC Radio 3 as “a spark to watch”, guide us on an immersive journey through various sonic landscapes. Hannah Roberts, acclaimed Principal Cellist, will open the programme with the breathtaking Prelude from Bach’s spell-binding Cello Suite.

From one solitary performer, the sound world shifts as the combined forces of orchestra and chorus come together for a rare opportunity to hear Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament, a work of deep contemplation.

Profoundly affected by the death of Benjamin Britten in 1976, the respect and admiration Pärt felt towards the composer can be heard in the ethereal beauty of his elegiac orchestral piece, Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Mozart’s timeless Symphony No.40, with its passion and urgency, will ignite the orchestra for an electrifying and energetic conclusion.

• Manchester Camerata
• Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
• Tom Fetherstonhaugh – conductor
  Hannah Roberts – cello

J. S. BACH Cello Suite No.5: Prelude
ARVO PÄRT Adam’s Lament

ARVO PÄRT Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
MOZART Symphony No.40

Tickets are available online and in person from the City Hall box office.

Saturday 21st March 2026, Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, Sheffield

Come and Sing Vivaldi’s Gloria

Following the success of our first two Come and Sing events in Upper Chapel, we return to this wonderful venue to host another. Visitors are invited to join us in a day’s workshop featuring Vivaldi’s marvellous Gloria.

The  workshop will be led by our fantastic Musical Director Darius Battiwalla. Darius has conducted choral performances with leading orchestras including the Halle, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata, and he has prepared the Chorus for appearances at the Proms and for recordings with the BBC Philharmonic for Chandos. He has worked regularly as guest chorusmaster or conductor with many other choirs including the Northern Sinfonia Chorus, Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Huddersfield Choral Society, CBSO chorus and Netherlands Radio Choir.  Darius is Leeds City Organist and has appeared as organ soloist with the Halle, London Philharmonic Orchestras and the BBC Philharmonic, and he gives regular chamber concerts with members of the Manchester orchestras on piano and harpsichord. Despite this impressive record he is a very friendly conductor, encouragingly supportive and challenging in equal measure – qualities that were much in evidence both last year and this.

The day will begin at 10.30 with registration from 10am, with the morning session running to 12.30 including a break for tea or coffee and cake (included in the admission price).

We re-commence at 2pm, giving time for participants to have lunch in one of the many varied eateries  in the city centre. The afternoon session will run until 4.30pm, with another generous break for tea in town, until the FREE performance for family and friends at 6pm. Scores will be provided for those who don’t have their own. NB. There won’t much note-bashing, so prior knowledge of the pieces or a reasonable ability to read music will help participants make the most of the day.

Information about joining the Chorus will be available on the day; see https://sheffieldphil.org/membership-join/new-members/

Tickets for visiting singers will be available online costing £25 including score hire and refreshments. 

Sunday 7 June 2026, 4pm, City Hall

MENDELSSOHN Elijah

• The Hallé
• Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
• Matthew Hamilton conductor
• A star-studded cast of soloists

Hallé Choral Director, Matthew Hamilton, takes the helm for this spectacular season finale. A true showstopper, Mendelssohn’s Elijah captures the full spectrum of humanity’s struggles and triumphs, bringing the powerful story of the prophet Elijah to life through music. For this masterpiece, Sheffield’s resident orchestra and chorus will be joined by a star-studded cast of soloists who will weave this rich tapestry of sound, blending rousing choruses, lyrical arias, complex choral fugues and vivid orchestrations, ending with a triumphant “Amen”.

Commissioned by the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival in 1846, Mendelssohn returned to the city to conduct the premiere of Elijah to find crowds had flooded the streets and the large audience frequently interrupted the performance to applaud! “Never was there a more complete
triumph” wrote a reviewer in The Times.

Tickets are available online and in person from the City Hall box office.