This remarkable choir has brought music, fun, friendship and life-changing experiences to its’ singers and supporters since it began in 2018. With over 100 members, the Great Yorkshire Chorus has created an ethos of community, creativity and excellence in music making.
Why record an album now?
GYC has never yet had the opportunity to record music with a professional creative team on this scale. We look forward to celebrating our first five years by recording a snapshot of our finest music, which our singers and supporters will be able to treasure for years to come.
The Great Yorkshire Chorus has always been proud to create amazing opportunities for our members. We believe in the power of music to foster strong community and raise aspirations. In our first five years we have undertaken many wonderful performances at places including St George’s Hall Bradford, the Piece Hall Halifax, the Royal Northern College of Music and the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We have worked with high class guest conductors (including Mat Wright, Rob Short and Craig Lees) and taken part in out-the-box events including flash mobs, TED talks and live radio appearances.
We believe that recording this album will provide an incredible new experience for all our singers to take part in. The finished album will help us to grow our profile as one of the most aspirational contemporary choirs of today. When the album is completed, everyone who loves GYC will have something to keep and enjoy, capturing the beating heart of the Great Yorkshire Chorus in our early years.
How can I get involved?
You can support this incredible project in two ways. You can simply donate towards the album via our page here, or you can pledge in return for a reward. Check out our amazing choices for rewards on the side of the page.
They include:
- CD Pre-orders
- Digital Download Pre-orders
- Very special limited edition t-shirts
- Become a Gold or Silver album sponsor
The Album
Our album will be created on a big scale to the very highest standard.
The album will include a selection of our favourite songs from the last five years, which the choir themselves have helped to select. These will include pieces from the full range of musical styles that we sing together; pop, folk, world, gospel and classical music. A truly wonderful selection of the very best of the Great Yorkshire Chorus choral repertoire.
We will be working with professional musicians and sound engineers to create a recording of the best possible quality.
On Saturday 13th May 2023 we will be undertaking a full day recording session with the whole choir and a live band. This will take place at St Peter’s Church, Shipley.
We have over 100 singers in the choir, so as you can imagine, we are far too big to fit in any normal recording studio! Our sound engineering team will be turning the church into a huge on location recording studio for us. They will rig the space out with high quality microphones and sound equipment to enable us to make a studio quality recording.
The choir will be joined for the day by a live band made up of fantastic professional musicians. These talented players will accompany the choir on the album, bringing a new level of creativity and musicianship to the project.
What will it cost?
Our desire for excellence means that it’s not cheap.
The ambition and quality of the album means that we need to raise a large amount of money to make the project possible. This a professional level music project.
Inclusivity is really important to us and we have choir members from many different backgrounds. It’s a challenging financial time for many and we don’t want any of our singers to be unable to take part due to the cost. Therefore, we have taken the decision that our singers will not be charged any extra fees to sing on the album. Instead, we offer all our singers and supporters the opportunity to contribute to the project through this campaign. Our hope is that everyone involved can support the project in the way that they are individually able to. We know that this will be different for everyone. We are all in it together.
The main costs of the project will include:
Sound engineering
Our team from BMP Recordings will undertake a huge level amount of work for us. They will provide all audio equipment, rig the church out and soundcheck everything the day before. This will be followed by a full day of recording and the many hours work mixing, mastering and editing that takes places afterwards. BMP are also assisting us with artwork, licensing and CD manufacture.
Band hire
We will be working with our professional musicians, lead by Jonathan Mitra, in the lead up to the project to prepare all the musical arrangements for the band. They will be rehearsing with our choir director, then also the choir in the week leading up to the recording day. On the weekend of the recording they will set up and soundcheck with our engineers the night before then join the choir for the full Saturday recording session.
Venue hire
We will be hiring space at St Peter’s Church for the Friday 12th (enabling set up and soundchecks) and the full recording day on Saturday 13th May. As well as the using the church as our main recording space, we will also be using break out rooms in the building as break / lunchtime space for the choir members to take breaks and rest a little in between recording.
Copyright Licensing
Our album will include cover versions of many well known popular songs. In order to record and produce the album we must pay for the correct licences which are required to honour the relevant copyright restrictions on these pieces.
CD Manufacture
Our album will be produced in CD format, as well as digital. We will be working with a CD manufacturer to create the final CD products once the recording process is complete.
Our Top Class Team
Ken Blair – Director, Producer and Senior Recording Engineer, BMP Recordings
Ken will be managing the recording process for us and brings incredible technical and artistic experience to the project.
He graduated from Surrey University’s Tonmeister® course in 1988, followed by a postgraduate degree, Master of Music in Recording. His placement year was spent at George Martin’s AIR Studios on the island of Montserrat, working on albums by Boy George, Sting, Black Sabbath and Rush. On leaving university, Ken established the location recording company BMP, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2019.
As a recording engineer, Ken has undertaken hundreds of projects throughout the UK, Europe and the US. Highlights include: the Prokofiev Piano Concertos with Nikolai Demidenko and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Lazare and choral recordings with the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge in Notre Dame Cathedral and the Vatican. Solo piano recordings include Marc-André Hamelin Live at Wigmore Hall. Ken’s jazz recordings include albums with winner of the 2017 British Jazz Awards for piano, Nikki Iles, saxophonist Alan Barnes and trumpet player Steve Waterman.
BMP Recordings have previously worked with numerous other choirs to produce fantastic recordings, including:
New London Children’s Choir, Cambridge Taverner Choir, London Gay Men’s Chorus, Farnham Youth Choir and Winchester Cathedral Choir
Jonathan Mitra – Band Director
Jonathan is a Yorkshire based musical director, musician and accompanist specialising in musical theatre. He has a wealth of experience as MD from many shows around the region. Jonathan is used to leading bands and orchestras in the theatre setting and also preparing musical arrangements for various instruments as needed.
For this project Jonathan will be leading our band of musicians, preparing their parts and rehearsing with them in the lead up to the recording day. On the day he will work in collaboration with the choir director to create a fantastic sound with the singers and band all together.
Maria Mullin – Founder & Director of the Great Yorkshire Chorus
Maria set up the Great Yorkshire Chorus in 2018 and continues to lead the choir forward as their director.
She is passionate about the positive power of singing and music and is overjoyed to see how far GYC has come in this short time.
Maria has many years of experience working in music; as a choral conductor, teacher, saxophonist, accompanist and performer. She is also currently composing her first musical theatre show, Salt the musical, which she hopes to bring to stage as part of Bradford 2025.
At GYC Maria creates an atmosphere of fun, community and striving for excellence in music. She will be taking the lead on the album project, working together with the whole creative team and choir to create something truly special. Maria will be conducting the choir on recording day and working closely with Ken on post-production to ensure the best possible outcome for the album.
Let's make it happen!
We need your support.
You can help the Great Yorkshire Chorus to make this amazing project become a reality.
Check out all the fantastic rewards we have on offer and play your part today.
Pre-order your CDs and Digital Downloads now.
Or show your support by becoming a Gold or Silver Sponsor.
The album will be released in September 2023. (So it's perfect timing for giving to your loved ones as a gift for Christmas!)
We believe in the power of music.
There is nothing quite like the joy of singing together.
We sing to build friendships, foster community, share experiences and raise our aspirations in music and life.
Help us today to capture the true spirit of GYC and share it with you.
Thank you!