Hello and welcome to the Queen’s Choral and Singing Society (QCaSS) webpage! We are a platform for students to start and run singing groups within the student’s union and we currently host a number of singing groups ranging from choral to contemporary.
Queen's Quarter Choir -
At the heart of QCaSS is the Queen’s Quarter Choir, a dynamic and welcoming SATB ensemble open to singers of all levels – no auditions required! Join us for rehearsals every Monday evening from 7pm to 9pm in the upstairs lecture room of the QUB Music Building. Throughout the year, we build a repertoire for our performances and collaborations, all in the spirit of raising money for charity.
Queen's Chamber Choir -
For those seeking a more challenging and intimate experience, we also have an audition-only chamber choir. This award-winning close harmony ensemble focuses on more intricate and demanding pieces, tailored to elevate the skills of experienced choristers. QCC frequently attends music competitions such as Larne Music Festival, and has been extremely succesful within these. Auditions for this group take place in October, and rehearsals are typically held on Sunday evenings.
Katie Hill, QUB Music alumnus and successful music teacher conducts both Queen's Quarter Choir and Queen's Chamber Choir, with Phoebe Gooding, a recent QUB Music graduate acting as Assistant Musical Director of the former.
Queen's Micro Choir -
Our third choral ensemble, Queen's Micro Choir, is another close harmony group made up of just 8 singers - organised and directed by Katie Hill (MD) and Rachael Fitzpatrick (QCaSS President).
Queen's Consort -
Our final and most recently formed group, Queen's Consort, is directed by David Monahan, a student of Stranmillis University College and esteemed choral and organ scholar. This ensemble focuses on extremely challenging yet rewarding pieces of music that aim to excite and engage an audience. Their first debut will be in December 2025 at a QCaSS hosted Christmas concert!
If you have your own idea for singing group, like an all-female barbershop quartet, an operatic ensemble or a contemporary group focused on your favourite band/artist, we can help you make it happen! However formal or informal your idea may be, QCaSS can provide you with support and guidance to help you form your own singing group, providing rehearsal rooms, borrowing equipment, helping you advertise and giving you the chance to showcase your talents in our recitals. We’d love to hear more people bringing forward music that’s close to their hearts and helping make Queen’s a more musical place to be.
Performances
Our annual Spring Recital is the focal point of our year at QCaSS. This is an opportunity to showcase the incredible talents of our ensembles and features mesmerising solos from our dedicated members. Our most recent recital in 2024 took place in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, and was an evening of beautiful contemporary choral music, featuring songs like 'Homeward Bound' by Marta Keen and 'Miserere mei, Deus' by Gregorio Allegri.
In addition to this, each year during the festive season, we come together and head into the city centre in Belfast to go carolling. Carolling is a lovely tradition which helps us all get into the festive mood while raising funds for charity through organsations like QUB RAG, Inspire, among others.
Social events
Our social calendar is filled with fun events from pub crawls to karaoke nights. Come along to our spooktacular Halloween pub crawl featuring fun challenges and rewards, costumes mandatory! Or test your knowledge and skills at our pub quizzes and games nights. Finally, you can sing your heart out at our good old-fashioned karaoke nights where you can come see your friends, have a drink if you’d like, and bash out some of your favourite classics and showtunes on the big screen with the members of QCaSS cheering you on!
Some of our past events also include ABBA Night, complete with a quiz, costume competition, and fabulous prizes (including an ABBA Gold vinyl); Beat-the-Committee night where members took on the committee in a series of silly games and challenges, and a fan favourite; Shrek Themed Pub Crawl!
Keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook for any upcoming events! You can also see more of us on TikTok and YouTube!
Membership
QCaSS membership is £5, entitling you to discounted tickets to our events and allowing you to participate in our performances throughout the year and vote in our committee elections. You can sign-up as a member at any time during the year and you can find a link to our membership sign-up on our link tree below.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/qubqcass
Get in touch!
If you have any questions about the society, our ensembles or anything else, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via email at choralandsinging@qub.ac.uk or message us on Instagram or Facebook.