Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society
Choral Music in England's Smallest City
Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society (WCOS) was founded in 1896 and is one of the Southwest’s leading choral societies. It performs the great choral works with some of the UK’s finest soloists and professional orchestras in the glorious surroundings of "The Queen of English Cathedrals".
Numbering around 160 voices, WCOS gives three concerts a year, under the direction of the distinguished conductor Matthew Owens, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral.
Under Owens it has performed Bach’s St John Passion, B minor Mass, and Christmas Oratorio; Brahms’ German Requiem; Britten’s War Requiem and Saint Nicholas; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius; Fauré’s Requiem; Handel’s Four Coronation Anthems; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Mozart’s Requiem and C Minor Mass; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Verdi’s Requiem; and major works by Finzi, Purcell, Rutter, and Vaughan Williams. The Society also presents Handel’s ever-popular Messiah, each December.
WCOS hosts an annual Come and Sing day each spring, to which any singers are welcome to learn and perform a work from scratch, in just a few hours.
Chorus rehearsals are on Monday evenings in the Cathedral from September to March and generally follow Wells Cathedral School's term times. Our current accompanist and assistant conductor is Jeremy Cole, the Assistant Organist at the Cathedral.
New singers are always welcome to apply to join the choir. Why not join us?
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"After the last sounds had floated away... there was a long pause before anyone felt able to break the spell."
The society performs three major concerts every season. Our first concert in the season is usually performed in early November. This is followed by our regular opener for Christmas, Handel's Messiah. In the March of the following year we perform a third major concert.
You may also view our past concerts.
Concert Tickets
Tickets for all our concerts can be purchased Online or from Wells Cathedral Box Office.
Directions to Wells Cathedral
Detailed directions can be found on the Wells Cathedral website.