We are an award-winning chamber choir based in Derby, with a long-established reputation for performing music of the highest standard across an exceptionally wide range of styles. Our repertoire spans from the  Renaissance to the present day, combining both established favourites and lesser-known works.

With around twenty-six singers, we perform several concerts each year across the East Midlands, alongside occasional performances further afield.

Our programmes are deliberately varied, encompassing everything from Palestrina to Chilcott, and including sacred and secular music, both serious and light-hearted. We perform a cappella as well as with instrumental accompaniment, whether organ, piano or full orchestra, always approaching each programme with enthusiasm, musicality and professionalism. Under the direction of our Musical Director, Dexter Drown, we continue to explore challenging and rewarding programmes. Recent highlights have included performances of Bach’s St John Passion, Britten’s St Nicholas, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, and Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (Vespers), as well as Handel’s Israel in Egypt performed with a small orchestra and choir soloists. We have also presented themed programmes celebrating German and French choral traditions, alongside concerts devoted to British choral music, featuring works by Gustav and Imogen Holst, Stanford and Britten.

Other notable performances include a celebration of William Byrd’s music and Brahms’ German Requiem, performed with choir soloists and fourhanded piano accompaniment, echoing the historic 1871 London performance, as well as collaborations on music by Vivaldi and Monteverdi. In 2024, The Derwent Singers were proud to be finalists in the Midlands Choir of the Year competition and enjoyed a short tour performing in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucester and Lichfield.