Voices of the Forest Choir

About Our Choir

Voices of the Forest Choir - Lyndhurst

Voices of the Forest choir was founded in 2011. Based in the heart of the New Forest, we rehearse at St Michael and All Angels church in Lyndhurst and perform regularly in towns throughout the New Forest area.

We are a self-run choir led by a small group of individuals who are passionately committed to providing the opportunity for us to come together to rehearse and perform interesting and varied songs from around the World. The choir has four sections - Sopranos, Altos, Basses and Tenors. We are always open to new members and encourage anyone with an interest in joining a choir to come along to a rehearsal and try out singing with us.

Phil Daish Handy - Our Music Director

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Our MD Phil is a dynamic and widely acclaimed musician who boasts a mind-boggling catalogue of career achievements: as concert cellist; competition winner; MD for several choirs (currently Lymington Choral Society and Choralia Milford as well as us); as founder and Artistic Director of the professional orchestra Nova Foresta Classical Players; and as a central figure in musical movements across the New Forest. His passion is to keep live classical music vibrant and accessible to local people in this beautiful part of the world, and in this he has been awesomely successful.

But to us he is the boss with a unique leadership style, coaxing and inspiring us to achieve more than we ever thought we could. Under his unfailingly patient, good-humoured and sometimes hilarious guidance we learn to understand our music, to sing with joy, to work incredibly hard, to laugh at our mistakes, and to reach for the stars.

A Friendly Choir

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We're a friendly lot! Although singing  is what primarily brings us together we also like to socialise occasionally. Some of our members have been with the choir for years and good friendships have formed through rehearsing, performing and socialising together.