Welcome!
Caritas, Latin for 'charity', is a chamber choir based in Cardiff. We perform a range of music, unaccompanied or with organ, from the Renaissance period to the present day.
Formed of professional and other high-quality singers, all members give of their own time and aim to raise at least £1,000 per performance for charitable organisations and good causes.
Since our first performance in March 2013 we have put on 55 concerts and events, building a large and wide-ranging repertoire of over 300 pieces as well as raising more than £72,000 for 68 charities and other good causes.
Please explore our website where you can find out about the choir, watch recordings, view our full list of repertoire and more...
Latest News
Read our latest news and updates below.
Information about forthcoming concerts and buying tickets can be found on the 'Upcoming Concerts' page.
'You can also view older news articles on our News Archive page.
Quoniam & Cum Sancto Spiritu from Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’
June 2024 at Newport Cathedral
19 August 2023
Sanctus from Mass in Eb - Josef Rheinberger
We bring you the beautifully ethereal Sanctus from the Mass in E flat for Double Choir by Josef Rheinberger, a fine 19th century composer from Liechtenstein who is known especially for his very fine organ music but who in this piece refers back in his choral writing to the fabulous late Renaissance tradition in Venice. We recorded the Sanctus in the wonderful acoustic of St German’s Church in Cardiff; we hope you’ll agree that the building works really well for the 8-voice texture, with two Caritas singers on each of the eight voice parts.
22 July 2023
May the Spirit Sing in your Heart - Thomas Hewitt Jones
Lindsay Gray, founder and director of Caritas, is celebrating his 70th Birthday on 22nd July 2023. Susanna Gray-Jones, Lindsay’s daughter, commissioned a new choral work to mark this special day and we’re thrilled to share it with you here. Susanna invited her long-time friend, the talented composer Thomas Hewitt Jones to write a piece for the occasion; combining forces with the well-known writer Gordon Giles in respect of the lyrics, the two have created a beautiful work ‘May the Spirit Sing in your Heart’ which is a fantastic addition to the Caritas repertoire; we would like to thank Thomas and Gordon warmly for all they’ve done towards this project and we’re looking forward to being able to sing the anthem for you live in our next concert on 18th November in Llandaff Cathedral.
Susanna Gray-Jones says, ‘The anthem's soaring melody aims to reflect and celebrate the contribution Lindsay has made to choral music, both as a singer himself, choral conductor and in his various roles as a headmaster and as a former director of the Royal School of Church Music. The poignant words by Gordon Giles, Canon Chancellor of Rochester Cathedral, reflect on music, faith and spirituality and we hope will make an enjoyable and meaningful liturgical anthem, as well as being hopefully fun to sing. I’d like to thank my Dad for being an incredible father - for me that includes being my singing coach, headteacher, cricket bowling coach, business support advisor, choir director, counsellor and grandfather to our children. Happy 70th birthday Dad!'
The music is available via YouTube, Spotify and other streaming networks.The sheet music is available from Encore Publications: www.encorepublications.com
With the release of May the Spirit Sing in your Heart, Caritas will be fundraising for the Cardiff Branch of Samaritans. Samaritans is a charity working across the UK and Ireland and their vision is that fewer people die each year by suicide. They are there for anyone struggling to cope - day or night, 365 days a year. They take action to prevent people reaching crisis point, helping people find ways to cope and learn the skills to be there for others. They need your support to make this a reality so if you are able to make a donation via the link below we would be hugely grateful.
5 July 2023
All My Hope on God is Founded - Howells
We bring to you three verses of the hymn ‘All my hope on God is founded’ recorded very recently in St German’s Church, Cardiff. The superb tune was composed by Herbert Howells who named it ‘Michael’ after his son who tragically died aged nine having contracted polio during a family holiday. The descant used here in verse 3 was composed by our Director, Lindsay Gray, for the funeral of Valerie Donkin on 21st April this year. Valerie was the mother of Caritasian Becky who is singing on this recording. We send our warmest wishes to Becky and her family as we remember Valerie in this hymn which she particularly loved and which was sung at the start of the funeral service.
25 May 2023
Save the date: Saturday, 18th November
We shall be returning to Llandaff Cathedral for another special concert in this 10th anniversary year of Caritas.
Please place this date in your diary as we would love to see you there!
In the meantime, we have been busy recording some of our favourite repepertoire and new arrangements, all of which you can hear on our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@caritasconsort
