BBC Singers - About The BBC Singers - History

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Biography

As a vital resource in the BBC's music output, the BBC Singers hold a unique position in British musical life. Performing everything from Byrd to Birtwistle, Tallis to Takemitsu, the versatility of this 24-voice ensemble is second to none.

The choir's unrivalled expertise in performing the latest contemporary scores has brought about creative relationships with some of the most important composers and conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries - including Poulenc, Britten and Boulez.

Full biography of the BBC Singers

Trace the history of the BBC Singers, Britain's only full-time chamber choir, founded in 1924. Use the tabs below to view each decade.

1920s

Stanford Robinson and the Wireless Chorus at the BBC studios, Savoy Hill, in 1928

1924: Stanford Robinson is engaged by the BBC as its first Chorus Master, based at the Savoy Hill studios in London.

He recruits a choir of professional singers who make their debut - as the Wireless Chorus - in a broadcast of Rutland Boughton's The Immortal Hour on 2 October. Frequent broadcasts follow, and conductors who work with the group in the next few years include Elgar, Stravinsky, Schoenberg - and the young John Barbirolli.

1926: The Sunday night Epilogue begins and soon becomes a popular fixture in the broadcasting schedule.

1927: The Wireless Singers are established - a full-time octet of singers from the Wireless Chorus.

1928: The Daily Service begins.