Durham Fringe Festival 2025
Durham Scratch Choir
Durham Scratch Choir
Genre: Music
Venue: Stretch Tent on Palace Green
Festival: Durham Fringe Festival
Low Down
“Durham Scratch Choir offer in their 30th year, a wide range of song material. This new programme for 2025 will include songs from several continents and from many musical styles and eras. There is always a lot of fun and enjoyment in our performances that we seek to convey to the audience. We often offer those present at least one item to join in with, or to sit back and simply enjoy the moment.”
Review
Durham Scratch Choir is a long-established community choir based in Durham. Formed in the 1990s, it welcomes singers of all backgrounds and abilities. There are no auditions, and the emphasis is on participation, learning by ear, and the enjoyment of group singing. The choir’s repertoire includes folk songs, world music, early polyphony, and reinterpretations of modern popular pieces. Sessions are informal and inclusive, with performances held regularly at local events and festivals.
At Durham Fringe Festival 2025, the choir returns with a live performance in the Palace Green Stretch Tent, one of the festival’s main open-air venues. In previous years, their set has taken place on the closing Saturday in the early afternoon, typically lasting around one hour. Though the full timetable has not yet been confirmed for 2025, the choir is expected to feature in a similar slot as part of the music programme.
Durham Fringe Festival continues to grow as a regional arts festival, bringing together theatre, comedy, music, spoken word and dance. Now in its fifth year, it combines local and national acts across multiple venues in Durham city centre. Durham Scratch Choir’s presence contributes to the community ethos of the festival, offering audiences a vibrant and participatory musical experience.
This is not an over-polished or commercial choral group. The strength of the performance lies in its authenticity, energy and connection to place. Durham Scratch Choir offers music as a communal act and a celebration of shared voice, adding depth to the festival’s diverse programme.
This was a gentle hour that was enjoyed by an audience of over fifty. The sun came out during this performance and I found myself glad that groups like this extend their work to fringe festivals. It means that people discover this for the first time, sitting and enjoying the music alongside more seasoned audience members.
Harmony is well delivered and this is a confident choir drawing on a well chosen repertoire. Warmly recommended for something gentle, enjoyable and relazing in the noise of a town or city. It is an accessible show, something you can lean into and gently join in with, or just sit back and enjoy an positive, shared, community experience.
