How it all began
Aims
Music
Past visits
And Finally.....

How it all began....

Carlisle 1997

Lyra Davidica was formed in 1986, and originally comprised singers from a Madrigal Group in Warwick. Since then the group has changed significantly, with members now coming from all over the country, and beyond, although a core of original members remains.

The group meets up each summer to sing the services at a cathedral or a major church. We've visited locations in England, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland, the full list is available on the Lyra Davidica History page. Last summer we sang at Wells Cathedral. This summer we are going to York Minster and Beverley Minster. Although there is invariably a large quantity of sacred music, there is always enough time for Madrigal and Barbershop singing - often late into the night!



The aims of the choir are quite simple - to sing and have fun! As we've already mentioned we usually meet for 7 days over the summer, possibly singing a concert during the week and then singing services at the weekend, although this format isn't strictly adhered to. We usually aim to find a school or college near to the event and hire it for the week as this allows us to cater for ourselves and usually allows us to use the school sports facilities and rehearsal rooms. We normally plan to have rehearsals in the morning and evening, leaving the rest of the day free for you to relax or explore nearby places of interest. There are no fixed plans or timetables (apart from the rehearsals) so people tend to group up to see something of interest together.

As we've all left school (many years ago now!) and scattered the length and breadth of the country we've found new people to bring along each year, so the choir is constantly changing although it maintains a hard core of half a dozen or so people who are nearly always there, but it seems to manage to stay about 25 in number.


The choir mainly sings music for Anglican church services so we perform a range of music from Byrd to Britten that is suitable for Matins, Eucharist or Evensong. Occasionally, however, we will perform a concert and music can range over the centuries. At our last concert, for example, we sang four sections of music comprising early church anthems, Madrigals, 19th and then 20th century music both sacred and secular.

Unless memory is failing, since being formed we have visited the following locations:

1986:Lincoln Cathedral
1987: Isle of Man
1988: St Mary's, Warwick , Tewksbury Abbey, Coventry and Lichfield Cathedrals
1989: Durham Cathedral
1990: Isle of Man
1991: St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
1992: St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
1993: St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
1994: Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
1995: Birmingham and Lichfield Cathedrals
1996: Bristol Cathedral
1997: Carlisle Cathedral and Hexham Abbey.
1998: Chester Cathedral
1999: St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
2000: St David's Cathedral and Brecon Cathedral, Wales
2001: St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh
2002: Salisbury Cathedral
2003: Ripon Cathedral
2004: Lincoln Cathedral
2005: Lichfield Cathedral
2006: Wells Cathedral
2007: York Minster and Beverley Minster
2008: Exeter Cathedral
2009: Durham Cathedral
2010: Worcester Cathedral
2011: Canterbury Cathedral

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Chester Cathedral 1998

We hope this has provided you with a taste of what we do and hasn't managed to put you off! We are always open to suggestions for the choir, new members and new places to go and sing. If you have any questions then you are welcome to contact us. Best wishes and good singing!

© Lyra Davidica 2007–2011
Last updated 6^th July 2011