About The Handful
"This fine choir is arguably the best secular choir in Bath" Peter King
In 2002 a group of keen singers with good sight reading skills were looking for a choir to challenge them musically, both as individuals and within a small group. A Handful of Singers was founded to fill that gap in Bath.
From the outset we have covered an eclectic repertoire, from early to contemporary composers, close harmony to larger scale classical works whilst at the same time giving individuals opportunities to perform as soloists or in very small numbers. As the choir grew in size, so it earned a growing local reputation for high quality performance, reflecting the intention that we should be stretched musically and do constructive vocal work. You can see our Aims and Values here and listen to excerpts of our recordings here.
We have been extremely lucky to work under conductor Christopher Finch for the last 13 years. In 2018, we started work with new Musical Director Tomos Watkins whose musicianship, passion and ambition for the choir has led us expertly through the last three years. Now that Tomos has left us to pursue his academic studies in Dublin, we have been really excited to work with two interim Musical Directors during the first half of 2021!
Musical Director
Our interim Musical Director this term is Elinor Cooper. Elinor is a conductor, singer and classical music writer based in the South West. She has worked as a writer for the BBC Music magazine, and has worked as a singer with a huge range of international conductors and artists.