City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus

Simon Halsey Chorus Director
David Lawrence Associate Conductor
Julian Wilkins Assistant Conductor and Accompanist

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nullSince its debut in 1974, the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus – a body of ‘unpaid professionals’ conducted by Simon Halsey – has become one of the finest of its kind, performing regularly with the CBSO and in regular demand from other world-class orchestras.

“This musical organisation represents the large choir at its impressive best, a brilliantly versatile interpreter of great music. There is enormous power here, but there is also the ability to speak softly, to create colour, shading, nuance and subtle suggestion... it is as impressive in a whisper as it is at full volume.”

Christopher Dafoe, Vancouver Sun

The CBSC performs regularly at Symphony Hall and has undertaken a huge range of challenging repertoire with the CBSO. The Chorus is also an extremely important cultural ambassador, both for the CBSO and for Birmingham, and its résumé of engagements with other orchestras rivals any other symphony chorus in the world.

Working with the CBSO 

Highlights in recent years include performances in 2001 of Britten's Peter Grimes, Bach's St Matthew Passion and the centenary concerts of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, which the Chorus performed from memory. September 2002 saw highly acclaimed performances of Britten's War Requiem in Coventry and Ghent Cathedrals and in May 2003 the CBSC featured in monumental performances of Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. In 2004 performances of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius at Symphony Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw attracted immense critical acclaim. In February 2005 the Chorus played its part in welcoming the Annual Conference of the Association of British Orchestras to Birmingham, in a performance of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and in May it performed Julian Anderson's commission of Four American Choruses and Walton's choral showcase Belshazzar's Feast at Symphony Hall and at The Sage, Gateshead. The CBSC featured prominently in a wonderful concert of English Choral Favourites at Symphony Hall in December 2005, shortly before recording much of the same repertoire with EMI Classics.  March 2006 saw the Chorus as busy as ever with performances of Mahler's 2nd Symphony and Haydn's The Creation, before rounding the 2005/06 season off in style with a performance of Stravinsky's Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) at Symphony Hall in June 2006. In September 2006 the new season began with a magnificent performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Berlin and the CBSC returned to Germany with the CBSO in November for performances of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Philharmonie in Cologne, both enthusiastically received. Given the CBSO's connections to and affinity for Sir Edward Elgar and his music, 2007 was dominated by celebrations surrounding the 150th anniversary of his birth. Performances of Elgar's three great oratorios - The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles and The Kingdom - on three consecutive days in early June was an extraordinary achievement and a visit to the BBC Proms for a repeat performance of The Apostles in August rounded off the season in style. Early in the 2007/08 season, Elgar featured prominently again as the CBSC performed The Music Makers at the re-opening festival of the CBSO's ancestral home - Town Hall Birmingham. Another busy season with numerous highlights came to an emotional conclusion when CBSC contributed in real style to the wonderful concerts in which Sakari Oramo bowed out as the CBSO's Music Director and, a fortnight later, in which Simon Halsey celebrated 25 years at the helm of the Chorus.

Working with other orchestras

Featured amongst a wealth of prestigious engagements in the past few years was the CBSC's 2000 World Tour, the highlight of which was a performance of Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival.  In 2002, the CBSC and the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus also performed Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand with both the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda at the Bridgewater Hall to open the Commonwealth Games Festival in July, and with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall and the BBC Proms in August. The CBSC is a regular visitor to Manchester to perform and record with the BBC Philharmonic, joining it in June 2005 to complete its innovative and highly acclaimed Beethoven symphony cycle with yet another stunning performance of No. 9 and most recently for a performance and live recording of James MacMillan's The Quickening in March 2007.

In May 2002 the CBSC accepted a unique invitation to record live for EMI Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle.  Roars of approval greeted the Chorus at the close of two spectacular performances of the work in Vienna's Musikverein, the Wiener Zeitung noting that "the CBSC met Rattle's demands with transparency, clarity and perfect execution". In January 2004 the CBSC flew to Helsinki to join Sakari and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for only the second ever performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Finland and in September the CBSC collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic to wow Proms and Birmingham audiences with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which attracted unanimous critical acclaim. 2005 saw another visit to the Proms, this time with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Chorus for Verdi's Requiem and 2006 started in spectacular style with the CBSC enjoying a week-long tour to Hong Kong in February, performing twice at the Hong Kong Festival with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, with works including Mahler's 2nd Symphony and Fauré's Requiem. The Chorus saw in 2007 with a tour to Lyon and Grenoble over the New Year to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Orchestre National de Lyon under the baton of renowned conductor Jun Märkl and, in spring 2008, the CBSC travelled to Kuala Lumpur for two performances of Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

CBSC Recordings

The CBSC has over 40 recordings to its credit, including five award-winning releases. Mahler's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Sir Simon Rattle won Gramophone Record of the Year in 1988, Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of our Time, conducted by the composer was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and Szymanowski's Stabat Mater conducted by Sir Simon Rattle was awarded the 1995 Gramophone Best Choral Recording. At the 2000 Gramophone Awards, the CBSC scooped Best Opera recording for its EMI release of Szymanowski's King Roger with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle, this following the award for Best Choral recording for its Chandos release of works by Lili Boulanger with the BBC Philharmonic and Yan Pascal Tortelier in 1999.  Other releases include Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the CBSO, choral works by Fauré with the BBC Philharmonic and EMI's 2004 recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the CBSO, LSC, CBSYC, Toronto Children's Chorus and Sir Simon Rattle. Most recently, the Chorus have recorded Julian Anderson's CBSO commission Four American Choruses for NMC and an exclusively CBSC disc of English Choral Favourites for EMI's Classics for Pleasure label. The latter was released in May 2006 and the Anderson in October 2006.