Amabile Girls' Choir gave its first formal concert in March 1996. It was founded and is directed by Charlotte Jackson. In February 2000, Pamela Cook MBE became Amabile's President.

Amabile sang in the Music for Youth National Choral Festivals of 1998, 1999 and 2001. In 2000 it was a semi-finalist in the Sainsbury's Choir of the Year Competition. At the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2002 Amabile won the Senior Children's Choir class.

The choir's first foreign tour was to Belgium in 2000. Subsequently Amabile has given invited concerts in Washington DC (2003), where it sang in the National Cathedral; and, in 2004, in Provence during the 9ème Festival Choral International De La Sainte Baume, and at the Festival of Dimitria in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Amabile performs regularly in Cumbria. It has also taken part in A National Choral Festival at the RNCM, A Centenary Celebration of Gerald Finzi in the Lake District, and a shared concert with Cantamus Girls' Choir in Mansfield.

As well as the broadcast of Sainsbury's Choir of the Year 2000, Amabile has appeared on the BBC's Songs of Praise programme, Border TV, and most recently on Greek national television.

Poco Amabile was established in September 2000 with the purpose of training girls for Amabile. In the first year its membership was eight, and now stands at over 20. These girls, whose ages range from eight to twelve, have very quickly moulded together to form a very committed choir with an identity of its own. Poco Amabile has taken part in the regional round of the Music for Youth Festival in Manchester and won first place in the Youth Choir section at the Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival in its inaugural venture into competition. In July 2003 the choir was one of only four choirs invited to take part in A National Choral Festival at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Poco Amabile has already taken part in workshops with Bob Chilcott, David Lawrence, Deborah Catterall and Mike Brewer.

The Pre-Training Choir was established in April 2002 for girls aged 5-7 years. It is intended to nurture singing and musicianship skills through songs and games. Great emphasis is laid on accurate pitching, rhythmic understanding, inner hearing and awareness of others in the group. Simple musical notation is introduced. At the end of each term the girls perform for parents and friends, joining the main Amabile and Training Choirs for concerts at Christmas or at other significant points in the year. Since September 2003, an earlier session has been introduced for girls aged 4, extending the range of this musicianship training still further.

Donne Amabile
Amabile is pleased to announce the addition of a new choir to the Amabile family - Donne Amabile - a choir for women!

If you are an adult female singer with a strong music reading ability, or can learn music quickly, you are invited to audition for membership in this exciting new ensemble. Commitment for the first concert will include approximately eight rehearsals followed by an inaugural performance early in 2008. Repertoire for the inaugural performance will include Bob Chilcott's Little Jazz Mass, Ramona Luengen's Missa Brevis, David MacIntyre's Ave Maria and Mark Sirett's Song of the Angels.

If you are interested in auditioning, please contact:
Director Frances Chiasson • 07914 083863 •

If you know of other women who might be interested in singing in this choir, please pass this information on!