Handel Society

About Us

The Handel Society of Music is an amateur, non-profit organization that produces fine choral performances for the enjoyment and benefit of audiences in the Lower Mainland. The Society also supports and stimulates musical activity in the area and promotes the artistic development of young musicians.

The Society performs choral orchestral works by Handel, and others such as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, or Puccini’s Messa di Gloria. The Society also performs oratorios, masses and requiems by other great classical composers including Mozart, Haydn and Schubert.

The 2009-2010 season included a performance of Messiah by GF Handel. Mozart's Missa in C, Vesperae solennes de Dominica and Dixit et Magnificat were presented in the spring.

The tentative schedule for the 2010-2011 season includes Durufle's Requiem, Britten's Festival Te Deum and A Hymn of St. Columba, and Rutter's O Clap Your Hands at 7:30 on November 20 2010 at the Good Shepherd Church in South Surrey, and a spring concert tentatively featuring Beethoven's Missa Solemnis on May 14 2011.

Interested singers are invited to attend rehearsals, Tuesday evenings 7:30 to 9:45 pm at Northwood United Church, 8855 - 156th Street in Surrey. The society registrar, Bob Corrigan, by phone at 604-277-4319 or email at email@handelsociety.ca, can provide information about becoming a member of the choir, including auditions, annual dues, musical scores, practice tapes/CD’s, and concert dress.

The Handel Society of Music maintains membership in the BC Choral Federation, and the Surrey and Delta Arts Councils. The Society is registered under the Societies Act and operates under a Constitution and Bylaws. A Board of Directors, elected by Society members, is responsible for conducting the business of the Society, including the planning and operation of the choir.

What Choir Members like about the choir (from the 2008 evaluation): " the commitment to excellence"......."the love of singing"..... "the cohesiveness and congeniality"....."the musical ability and high standards"....."everybody is enthusiastic about the music"