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In 1974, Michael Kibblewhite was appointed Musical Director of the Harlow Choral Society.
Having been a chorister at Oxford, and later a choral and music scholar at Cambridge, it was
a deliberate and challenging choice to move away from academia and take on a group of
unauditioned amateur singers in a still evolving New Town. At the end of his first year
though, their new conductor offered his resignation unless certain reforms were made. The
result, after a short convalescence, being the emergence in 1975 of a revitalised, smaller
(after auditions), choir renamed Harlow Chorus which soon became one of the largest and
most prestigious choirs in Essex.
Michael insisted that regular programmes of unaccompanied music performed in churches
should play as important a part in the season as the large-scale concerts, and forged links
with the Harlow-based Alberni Quartet who would willingly assemble full orchestras around
them to accompany. Under his charismatic direction, always performing with professional
musicians (including brilliant rehearsal pianists), standards reached new heights and the
Chorus began to tour abroad, first to the N.E. USA in 1980 then regularly to France and Italy.
Collaboration with Michael’s other two choirs, North East London Polytechnic and Hatfield
Philharmonic, led to some memorable experiences including Arthur Bliss’ Morning Heroes at
the Royal Festival Hall and the first performance of Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony in
Germany under Manfred Honeck at the 1995 Saarbrucken Festival.
Harlow Chorus’ reputation at the end of Michael’s 20 year term attracted top quality
applicants for the position of MD – Dr Sarah Tenant-Flowers who followed is now our
President. Michael inspired lasting loyalty and a great spirit among his singers giving the
choir a resilience which showed when we continued on Zoom and then flourished during and
after the pandemic. Dr Edward-Rhys Harry, MD since 2018, will be leading us into our 50 th
anniversary season next year.
This document: The First 20 Years gives a detailed list of the concerts performed by the Chorus from 1976-1996.
