Mark Gibson

10th May 2026

Mark Gibson

We are sad to report that Northampton Bach Choir lost one of its longest standing members in the early hours of Friday 1st May. Mark Gibson - former Chairman and Concert Manager for the choir - passed away peacefully at Northampton General Hospital. Our thoughts are with his wife Pat and all his family.

Mark had been a member of Northampton Bach Choir for close on sixty years and it is hard to do justice to the contribution he made over the years to the growth and success of the choir. He was instrumental in organising the twinning association exchanges with choirs from Poitiers and Marburg. In his role as Concert Manager - a position he held for many years – he worked with many different Music Directors and organised dozens of different concerts. He established good relationships with many soloists and orchestra leaders and helped to develop the reputation of the choir as one of the leading choral societies in the East Midlands.

Mark had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the choir’s history and could always be relied on to recall when we had performed a particular work, who had been the conductor and even who the soloists had been and which players had accompanied the piece. Indeed, he had embarked upon writing a history of the choir dating back to its formation in 1939.

Mark was a stalwart member of the bass section and, having sung most of the choral repertoire over his fifty plus years in the choir, he could probably sing most pieces from memory. The Bach Choir was not his only choir though: he sang regularly with the Midland Festival Chorus and he led his own choir - the Seasonal Singers - which performed regularly at Christmas and Easter at Abington Avenue United Reformed Church until Covid-19 intervened. He was also a keen member of the Northamptonshire & Peterborough Organists’ Association.

Mark will be missed by many. We send our sincere condolences to his wife Pat and his family.