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| 4. Up to the Present Day |
The future of DCU was cemented during the period 1960 to the present day by the quality of the Musical Directors appointed.
 Raymond Thorpe became MD in 1963 and, until his untimely death in 1991, formed a choir capable of tackling a wide spectrum of the choral repertoire over his 28 years in the post. He is the longest serving MD in the choir's history.
 This continued throughout the ‘90s with David Fisher who took over as MD in 1992. He built on the base that Raymond had created and produced programmes which were innovative.
These included his own compositions (e.g. Laudate Dominum and Requiem) and others such as The Song of Creation by Will Todd, which the choir commissioned for the Millennium.
This was a time of major changes regarding the 'look' of the choir. A 'Corporate Image' was adopted which was reflected in all the publicity material with a new publicity brochure, new logo as well as the printed programmes.
 The choir undertook its first CD recording, helped to arrange festivals and tried to stage what could have been a record-breaking performance of Messiah at Pride Park Stadium.
Nowadays the choir normally performs in the beautiful setting of Derby Cathedral, but we have also sung in the De Montfort Hall in Leicester, Pears School in Repton, Merton College Chapel in Oxford, St. Oswald's Church in Ashbourne, Wirkworth's Church, St. Peter's Church, Alstonefield and St. John the Baptist Church, Tideswell (see the venues that the DCU has sung in over the years).
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The choir after our concert in
Altenberg Dom in Germany |
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 Richard Dacey took over the mantle of MD in September 2003, opening up a new era in the history of the choir, and it has been extremely interesting and rewarding.
The choir has tackled different and challenging music, including the Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and Requiem and more recently, Rutter's Mass of the Children.
Under his direction, the choir has enjoyed three overseas tours, twice to Italy (2004 & 2005) and once to Germany (2008 - see picture below left).
In June 2007, we went to sing Evensong at Merton College, Oxford. In 2005 and 2007, we took part in 2 joint concerts with the Leicester Philharmonic Choir, Richard being their Chorus Master.
More locally, we have performed concerts in Ashbourne, Wirksworth, Alstonefield and Tideswell.
 Ken Spruce is one of the longest-serving members of the committee; he served as the Hon. Secretary of the choir from 1969 - 2000 and then as Chairman from 2000-2009. In the early 1990s he was appointed Chairman of the National Federation of Music Societies for the East Midlands region. In 2001 he was honoured with a Highly Commended Civic Award from the City of Derby for his outstanding work whilst he was secretary of the choir. On his retirement as Chairman, he published his autobiography <em><a href="../../Misc/Chasing the Crotchet.html">Chasing the Crotchet</a></em> covering his long period of association with the DCU. </span>
Derby Choral Union was formed to perform music of the highest standard, a tradition it maintains to this day. It is one of the longest serving choral societies in England and throughout its history, the choir has shown a readiness to experiment and to learn contemporary music whilst also enjoying the traditional choral classics.
A succession of first-class Musical Directors, a dedicated committee, an enthusiastic membership, a commitment to performances of the highest quality, and the ability to adapt to social changes over its 140+ years has ensured the survival of Derby Choral Union and made it one of the leading choral societies in the East Midlands region.
| The History of the DCU has been summarised in our Wikipedia article published in August, 2009. |
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