The Huddersfield Singers is based in Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and is a chamber choir

Chamber choir

A chamber choir or group of chamber singers is the choral equivalent of a chamber ensemble, using voices instead of instruments. This prestigious choir will usually consist of 20-40 elite and dedicated singers. Several chamber choir formats exist, ranging from barbershop groups to exclusively...

 of around 30 members. The choir was formed in 1875 as the Huddersfield Glee & Madrigal Society and performs a wide variety of sacred

Religious music

Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...

 and secular

Secular music

Secular music is non-religious music. "Secular" means being separate from religion.In the West, secular music developed in the Medieval period and was used in the Renaissance. Swaying authority from the Church that focused more on Common Law influenced all aspects of Medieval life, including music...

 music from all periods of musical history, ranging from the medieval to the present day.

The Huddersfield Singers is renowned for its adventurous and interesting repertoire, and takes pride in performing works by less well-known composers alongside more mainstream pieces. The choir has occasionally commissioned new music, such as for its 125th anniversary concert in July 2000, for which Arthur Butterworth

Arthur Butterworth

Arthur Butterworth MBE is an English composer, conductor and teacher.Butterworth attended the Royal Manchester College of Music , where he studied composition with Richard Hall and also learned the trumpet and conducting...

 wrote Haworth Moor. Other composers who have written music for the choir, or dedicated pieces to it, include Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....

 (Wassail Song, 1932) and John Gardner

John Gardner (composer)

John Linton Gardner, CBE is an English composer of classical music.-Biography:Gardner was born in Manchester, England and brought up in Ilfracombe, North Devon. His father Alfred Linton Gardner was a local GP and amateur composer who was killed in action in the last months of the First World War....

 (Waltzsongs, 1996).

The present conductor is Philip Honnor, who has occupied the post since 1990. The choir is a registered charity (number 507768).