| AdminHistory | In 1939, Dr Colin Bradsworth, newly returned from the Spanish Civil War, decided to start a workers' choir in Birmingham and the Midland Orpheus Choral Society was formed. In 1940 Katharine Thomson, a local musician, became its conductor and the group affiliated to the Worker's Music Association and the composer Alan Bush began to work with them. The first concert was to a Tenants' Association in the Co-operative Hall in Yardley Wood. The name Clarion Singers was adopted in 1940 and the group gave concerts at factories, hospitals, parks etc. throughout the war aiming to bring good music to the people. The produced excerpts from 'The Beggars Opera'; Purcell's 'Dido & Aeneas'; 'The Press Gang' by Alan Bush; 'Prometheus', with music by Wilfred Mellors. There was a close relationship with Ralph Vaughan Williams and in 1949 the choir performed 'Sir John in Love' at the Midland Institute. The Clarion Singers made some visits abroad, to Romania in 1952 and to Czechoslovakia in 1957. In 1959 the choir performed Earl Robinson's 'Lonesome Train', about Abraham Lincoln and the idea of popular democracy. This was produced by Charles Parker, BBC radio producer [See also MS 4000: Charles Parker Archive]. The group's involvement with Trade Union branches increased and they were in great demand. In 1972 they performed a concert to mark a century since the birth of Vaughan Williams. 'Speak with one voice', in 1974, traced the development of May Day and in the later 1970s and 1980s they performed several works in support of the Peace Movement. The Clarion Singers continue to perform today. |