About the Orchestra

The BBC Symphony Chorus is one of the finest amateur choruses in the country. It makes more television and radio appearances than any similar choir.

• Profile
• Who's who
• How to apply
• FAQs

One of the UK’s finest and most distinctive amateur choirs, the BBC Symphony Chorus was founded in 1928. Its early appearances included premieres of Bartók’s Cantata Profana, Stravinsky’s Perséphone and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and this commitment to new music is undiminished today with premieres and commissions in recent years of works by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Judith Weir, Stephen Montague, Peter Eötvös, Sir John Tavener and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

In its performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus performs a wide range of challenging repertoire, all of which is broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The current Barbican season’s concerts with the BBC SO include performances of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Sir Andrew Davis and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with David Robertson as well as concerts as part of two of this season’s Total Immersion events dedicated to Jonathan Harvey and Arvo Pärt.

As resident chorus for the BBC Proms, the BBC Symphony Chorus takes part in a number of concerts each season, usually including the First and Last Nights. Its 2011 appearances included performances of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, Britten’s Spring Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem and premieres of BBC commissions by Judith Weir and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

The Chorus also performs on its own and with other orchestras at venues in London and further afield. Most recently the Chorus has given concerts in the Canary Islands, in France, and with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Lorin Maazel at London’s Southbank Centre. February 2012 sees the Chorus performing Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette in London, Basingstoke and Paris with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Sir Mark Elder.

As well as dedicated studio recordings for Radio 3, the most recent of which was a programme of contemporary repertoire for choir, percussion and solo piano conducted by Chorus Director Stephen Jackson, the Chorus has also made recordings for commercial record labels, including Foulds’s A World Requiem, a selection of choral works by Joseph Marx and Delius’s The Song of the High Hills and Appalachia with the BBC SO and Sir Andrew Davis.

Chorus Director - Stephen Jackson

President - Sir Andrew Davis CBE