About Us
History
We are a community choir of mixed voices from Workington and surrounding areas in West Cumbria. Founded by Gerald Gillett in 1974 at Easter, the choir is named after the Carnegie Arts Centre, where we still hold our weekly rehearsals as well as a number of performances. We perform several concerts throughout the year in Workington and the local area, and are involved in local events too. You can regularly hear us singing at fundraisers, community events and celebrations!
The music we sing includes a wide variety of styles and genres, covering classical choral works, musical theatre, sacred music, folk, jazz, rock, pop and more. We have had several pieces of music composed for us, and we also have commissioned our own work. With such a range, there is something to suit every single taste, whether you are in the choir or watching from the audience.
As a local choir, we are known for being very friendly. We pride ourselves on making everyone feel very welcome, no matter how much or little you know about music. Why not come along for one of our Wednesday rehearsals.
Stephen Hunter (1990 - Present)
Stephen Hunter is the current resident Conductor and Musical Director of the Carnegie Singers. Stephen was born and educated in Lancaster and attended Huddersfield Polytechnic where he studied the oboe with Valerie Lockwood. Stephen then moved to Cumbria in 1984 and has worked as a Teacher of Music in Millom, Whitehaven, Carlisle and Workington.
Stephen is a currently a freelance musician and instrumentalist teacher. Stephen has worked with Operatic Societies in both Millom and Workington, and in 2011 he was nominated for ‘Best Musical Director’ by NODA North West for Workington Amateur Operatic Society’s production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.
Stephen has been responsible for several firsts with the Carnegie Singers, namely, the first European Tour to Selm, Germany in 1995, and the first Last Night of the Proms-style concert in 2001. The choir revisited Selm in 2001, 2004, as part of a twinning choir in 2007, and for the 25th anniversary of the twinning of Selm and Workington in 2019.
Gerald Gillett (1974 - 1990)
The founder and previous Musical Director of the Carnegie Singers, Gerald Gillett is one of Cumbria’s most experienced conductors. He has been steeped in the tradition of Church choral music since his appointment at sixteen as organist and choirmaster in Blackburn. He went onto Bretton Hall and the Northern School of Music, Manchester, where he studied organ and composition under the composer Doctor Cyril Christopher.
His teaching appointments have taken him from the South East to Birmingham, where after lecturing in Music at Bordesley College of Education, he moved to Workington in 1972. His successes with the Grammar School Choir, the Workington Boy Singers, and Flimby Male Voice Choir, with radio and television coverage, were typical of choirs he has founded or directed up and down the country, in the course of his teaching and posts as organist at many large churches.