Hardynge is the ancient name for Harpenden, dating from when it was a farming hamlet growing wheat for the nearby manor of Wheathampstead. The choir's name and logo symbolise these enduring connections.

The Hardynge Choir started in 1966 and continues to provide a challenging outlet for singers wishing to perform mainstream choral works alongside inventive programming and the commissioning of new repertoire. The choir currently has 70 to 80 members.  

There are no formal individual auditions for entry or ongoing membership.  We believe that singing should be taken seriously and worked at hard, but above all it should be fun and open to as many people as possible.

Three or four concerts are given each year, usually with professional orchestras and soloists.

Stabat Mater

Despite not very spring like weather, Hardynge choir’s Spring Concert was held in the High Street Methodist Church on Saturday 17 March.  The concert had an Easter theme.  The concert opened with the solemn Introduzione: Maestoso ed adagio from Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross.  This was the intimate, string quartet version of the work, played beautifully by the leaders of the string section of Paean Orchestra.

That was followed by Schubert’s beautiful Mass No.2 in G, D167; the choir was joined by three fabulous soloists Charlotte-Anne Shipley, Soprano, Graham Neal, Tenor and John Holland-Avery, Baritone.

After the interval the choir sang Haydn’s Stabat Mater, his setting of the famous 13th-century poem depicting the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. The choir was accompanied by four soloists that now included Kate Symonds-Joy, Contralto.  

The Paean Orchestra played superbly, the four soloists were fabulous and the choir rose to the occasion and excelled itself.   The concert was greatly enjoyed by a smaller than usual audience, which was probably diminished by the nasty weather.