Aims
Harrogate Male Voice Choir has two principal aims –
- To offer a meaningful and rewarding experience to male singers in Harrogate and the North Yorkshire region by rehearsing regularly and giving performances as and when requested by charitable organisations or members of the general public.
- To raise funds for local and national charities and local community projects by performing wherever and whenever invited.
Rehearsals are held on a weekly basis (Tuesday evenings) at Woodlands Methodist Church Hall on the Wetherby Road in Harrogate, since 23rd April 1986. The members rehearse and perform around 10 – 12 concerts per year between late August and the end of the following May. The choir is organised and administered by a main committee of seven members as well as a small number of sub-committees, created mostly for specific occasions or activities.
The President of the choir is Marilynne Davies BA, MEd, LRAM, PGCA, FRSA
Musical Team
The current professional musical team which leads the choir is made up of Musical Director Richard Kay and Pianists/Accompanists David Mawson and David Ward Campbell.
Accompanist
David Ward-Campbell
David has lived in Harrogate for most of his life and has been involved in the local music world since about 1980, when he joined Junior Strings as a young violinist (at Harrogate Music Centre) and St Robert’s Church choir in Pannal. He was Organist at St Robert’s Church, Pannal in the 90’s/00’s while also holding organist positions at Beckwithshaw and Killinghall Parish Churches.
David studied Music, Organ and Singing at Liverpool University and then went on to enjoy almost 15 years of expat life – in Bangkok, Prague and southern Spain. He was accompanist for the Bangkok Music Society and has also accompanied various choral groups in Spain. He has taught piano and singing for many years, mainly for the International School circuit abroad, and he continues to do so after returning to the UK.
David became an accompanist with HMVC in April 2018 and has also recently taken up a new appointment as Organist/Director of Music at Ripley.
Musical Director
Richard Kay
Richard trained in Drama & Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, whilst also studying ancillary music and singing with the Birmingham University Liturgical Choir. He spent 15 years on the Musical Team of York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, as Assistant then Deputy MD, before joining HMVC in the summer of 2021.
Richard has been a regular soloist around the Yorkshire music scene for many years and also incorporates music into his professional performance work: Richard is an actor, writer, composer and Associate Artist with Badapple Theatre Company. For more information about the range of his work visit www.richardkay.net
“I am incredibly proud to be the MD of such a warm and welcoming choir. For me, the enjoyment of singing together and the conveying of that joy, through performance, to our audiences is every bit as important as striving for musical perfection.”
Accompanist
David Mawson
PhD, LRSM, LTCL, LMusA
Born in New Zealand, David holds a MusB Hons and MMus degree from the University of Otago, a PGDipMus in piano performance from the RSAMD and a PhD in practice-led performance research from the University of Leeds. He has been awarded numerous music prizes and scholarships and as a pianist has broadcast on New Zealand radio and television. He has taught piano and music history at the University of Otago and the University of Leeds and has served as Administrator and Trustee of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and as Coordinator of the AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice (CMPCP) based at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge. David has been an accompanist with HMVC since October 2015.
Types of Music
A typical HMVC concert will include around 16-18 pieces, with styles ranging from Folk, Pop, Sacred, Musical Theatre, Part-songs and Contemporary compositions, all arranged specifically for three or four-part MVC ranges. The sections in a MVC are as follows: Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Baritone, Bass. In recent years, we have also enjoyed performing bespoke arrangements and brand new compositions generated from within the choir and the Musical Team. The key for us is balance; with differing styles and a mixture of accompanied and A Cappella singing. We also have a varied Christmas repertoire, incorporating carols and secular Christmas songs.
Community and Joint Concerts



The choir enjoys hosting joint events with other choirs and groups. Recent visitors having been The Ryelarks from Pickering, the Lyrical SoNGbirds from Nottingham, York’s Sound Fellows and the Tewit Youth Brass Band. We also enjoy collaborating with guest soloists, including Harrogate’s Duncan Goodwin (finalist in Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’).
Now an established highlight of the concert calendar is our annual ‘Sing Out’ concert, where we perform with, and alongside, two school choirs from the Harrogate area. This involves visiting the schools, to perform for the whole school assemblies, then rehearsing with their choirs in the lead up to our Annual Concert in June/July. Central to this project is a specially commissioned piece of vocal music called Here and Now, written for children’s choir and male voice choir with piano accompaniment, by Patrick Lee and libretto by Zimbabwean poet Penny Sylvester. Recent schools who we have collaborated with include Dacre Braithwaite, Oatlands Junior, Rossett Acre, Pannal Primary, Masham and Western Primary.
Early beginnings
A male voice choir existed in Harrogate at the beginning of World War 1, probably started in 1913. The advent of the war meant that many members volunteered to join the army and the choir was wound up.
It was re-established in 1918 and became a strong choir of more than 80 members but, after only a few years, the choir had to finish again, having lost many members to other choirs.
A Harrogate Guild of Singers was formed in 1946 and this lasted for approximately ten years; the Musical Director was Eric Godley.
The Harrogate Male Voice Choir (in its present incarnation) began on Monday 6th October 1969 and the first public performance was given at Tag House, Bilton, Harrogate.
Past Musical Directors have included
Dudley Waddington (1969 onwards), George Rodham (? – 1977), Fred Tingle (1977-1986),
Horace Kay, Tom Bury & Stephen Hamer, all between 1986 and 1991, Kay Bromhead (1991-1998).
Bernard White (1998-2013), Anthea Shepherdson (2013 -2014), Patrick J. Lee (2014 to 2020), Richard Kay (2022-present day).
Pianists have included
Nora Cooper (1969-1980), Harold Swift (? – 1983), Alice Wardman, Olive Thompson, Ian Christelow, Kay Bromhead, Pam Young, Jean Willmot, Joe Brockett (all between the years 1991 and 2001),
Avril Leeming (2001-2016), David Mawson (2016 to present day), David Ward Campbell (2018 to present day).
Special Occasions
The choir is also available for, and has performed at a variety of, private functions, including weddings, landmark birthdays, anniversaries and corporate events.

