Community Chorus

Community Chorus perform at the Sunderland Empire on Friday 27 November, a choral show that brings the choir from the rehearsal room to the stage. It's a local production, with the choir itself based right here in the city.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because the group is a community choir for people aged 50 and over, and they rehearse on Fridays at the Empire. This performance is the culmination of those weekly sessions, taking the singing from the rehearsal space and putting it in front of an audience. It's a choral show in the truest sense: a group of local people who sing together every week, coming together for one night to perform what they've been working on.

There's a bit of history to the venue, too. The Sunderland Empire opened in 1907 as the Empire Palace and holds 1,860 seats, making it one of the largest theatres in the North East. Its stage has launched the careers of performers like Tommy Steele and Helen Mirren, and it's also where Sid James suffered the fatal heart attack that killed him while he was performing in 1976. Since then, the building's dome and tower have been refitted with a state-of-the-art LED and floodlight system that lights up the main entrance by night.

Tickets start from £26.00, subject to availability, for the performance on Friday 27 November.