The Bar Choral Society is based in Temple with singers drawn from across the legal system. In addition to judges, barristers and pupils, members include solicitors, trainees, students, those who work in Chambers, the Inns, and their families.  2024 will see the Society celebrate its 10th Birthday. The celebrations are being launched with a performance of Puccini’s gloriously operatic Messa di Gloria and Mendelssohn’s superlative Psalm 42 Wie der Hirsch schreit nach frischem Wasser, so schreit meine Seele, Gott, zu Dir. 

Though praised at its first performance, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, was not heard again until after his death. It has since, however, become an established part of the choral repertoire. A graduation exercise completed when the composer was just 22, it is a work full of colour, vitality and musical energy, presaging his later works for stage. 

Psalm 42 by Mendelssohn is widely regarded by the composer himself as the pinnacle of his sacred output. Combining the best of Mendelssohn’s lyrical and elegiac writing it reveals, alongside his Romantic sensibility, the clear inspiration he drew from the great choral works of J S Bach. 

The concert is generously supported by Y-Tree.