Category Archives: choir

Birmingham What's On, choir, Choral, Classical music, concert, Concerts in Birmingham, news, Rutter

Feel the Spirit

Leave a comment

Join us at St George’s Church Edgbaston on 11th July for an uplifting evening of spirituals, rhythmic and soulful. We’re really looking forward to singing with the mezzo soprano Lufuno Ndou and musicians playing bass guitar, drums, piano and saxophone!

The main item in our concert will be John Rutter’s arrangements of a variety of spirituals in his work ‘Feel the Spirit‘.

Other items include:

Hogan – Battle of Jericho

Hogan – My soul’s been anchored

Hogan – Elijah Rock

Washburn – Balm in Gilead

Bartholomew – Little Innocent Lamb

Bartholomew – De animals a-comin’

Chilcott – Didn’t it rain 

Chilcott – Every Time I feel the spirit

Chilcott – All my trials

FEEL THE SPIRIT

Saturday 11th July 2026 19.30

St George’s Church, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DQ

Birmingham Festival Choral Society

David Wynne – conductor
Lufuno Ndou – Mezzo soprano

Kevin Gill – piano
Jim Griffiths – bass guitar
Julian Powell – drums
Nicky Fox – saxophone

Birmingham Choirs, Birmingham Events, choir, Choral, Music, news

French Choral Splendour

Leave a comment

On Saturday 15th November St George’s Church, Edgbaston was filled with the sound of beautiful French choral music.

The main works in the first half were Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle, and Jean Dattas’ Messe ‘Cum Jubilo’. Sylvie Dattas, one of our sopranos, had introduced us to her father’s music when we went on tour to Burgundy in 2016, and we were delighted to be able to sing it again. Fauré’s much-loved Cantique de Jean Racine brought the first half to a close.

The second half of the concert was the main item – the glorious Requiem by Maurice Duruflé.

Rhiain Taylor (mezzo-soprano) and Matthew Nuttall (baritone) treated us to some French songs, in addition to their wonderful solo parts in the Requiem. They were accompanied by Kevin Gill, who also played the complex and challenging organ accompaniment to the choral works.

The whole concert was prepared and conducted by our talented Music Director, David Wynne.

And now for the applause…

Thank you to Alfred White for taking these great photos at the concert.

choir, Concerts in Bromsgrove, Folksongs, Madrigals, news

Midsummer folksongs

Leave a comment

We invite you to a concert of folksongs and madrigals – perfect for a summer afternoon!

“MIDSUMMER FOLKSONGS” features a selection of songs from the English madrigal school and includes popular pieces by Weelkes, Morley, Wilbye and Gibbons, together with folk song arrangements by Holst and Vaughan Williams. The composer and conductor Sir John Rutter, familiar to many for his much-loved Christmas carols, is represented in the concert by two extended song cycles: “The Sprig of Thyme”, an arrangement of traditional folk songs; and “Birthday Madrigals”, which incorporates settings of poems by Shakespeare and others.

MIDSUMMER FOLKSONGS

Birmingham Festival Choral Society 

Conductor: David Wynne 

Accompanist: Kevin Gill (piano)

Sunday 6th July, Start time 16.30. 

Routh Hall, Bromsgrove School, Worcester Road, Bromsgrove, B61 7DU.

(Postcode for car park B61 7HP)

Ticket Link

The full programme can be viewed in our Classical Events listing.

Birmingham Music, Birmingham What's On, choir, Choral jazz, concert, Concerts in Birmingham, Jazz

Come to our concert on Saturday!

Leave a comment
Get tickets here

Come and listen to Birmingham Festival Choral Society sing choral music with a Jazz and Blues theme! Gorgeous harmonies and toe-tapping rhythms.

We will be singing with a jazz trio consisting of Kevin Gill on piano, Andy Derrick on double bass and Julian Powell on drums.

See our Concerts page for the full programme.

Drinks will be served at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre from 7pm. The concert starts at 7.30pm.

The Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, Kings Edward’s School, B15 2UA

Birmingham Choirs, Birmingham Festival Choral Society, choir, Choirs in Birmingham, choral society, Join a choir, news, Taster session

Why we love Birmingham Festival Choral Society – video

Leave a comment

BFCS stands for Birmingham Festival Choral Society – but we are also known as the Big Friendly Choral Society! We aim for a high standard of singing within a friendly environment.

This video, put together by the talented Kyle Simms, shows you some of the things that we love about BFCS:

New singers are welcome at any time, but we particularly invite you to our Open Rehearsal on Wednesday 7th September.

For more detail, please click on our Join Our Choir page.

To see the type of music we sing, please click on our our Concerts page.

Click on our Overseas Tours page to read about past and future choir tours.

Birmingham Choirs, Brahms, choir, Choral, Concerts in Lichfield, Finzi, Lichfield, news, singing

A night to remember

1 Comment

Our concert in Lichfield Cathedral on 2nd July was a wonderful occasion! The choir, soloists and piano accompanists all came together under the leadership of David Wynne to produce a thrilling performance of Brahms’ A German Requiem and Finzi’s Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice. The main two works were supported by other Brahms compositions: Geistliches Lied for choir and organ, and Hungarian Dances no 5 and 8 for piano duet.

We are extremely grateful to photographer Michael Whitefoot for producing a superb set of photographs, from which these are selected.

Photography ©Michael Whitefoot

Comments from the audience, posted on social media:

“Superb playing by the two accompanists. Fantastic concert.” LP

“It was an amazing concert, I got literal goosebumps” SE

“Lovely photos from a wonderful concert.” DS

“A great and really memorable concert. Thank you” KR

Photography: ©Michael Whitefoot

Kevin Gill and Stephen Hargreaves, our impressive piano duo, played the piano duet accompaniment to Brahms’ German Requiem, and two of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances.

Photography ©Michael Whitefoot

Louise Wayman, soprano, and James Davies, baritone, were our talented soloists. (Click arrows)

  • Photography ©Michael Whitefoot
  • Photography ©Michael Whitefoot
  • Photography ©Michael Whitefoot

“The Finzi was the standout for me, but Brahms’ ‘A German Requiem’ was navigated confidently, and the combination of Birmingham Festival Choral Society, soloists and accompaniment brought together an ensemble showing real enthusiasm and commitment.”

Click to read this review of the concert by David Barton

Photography: ©Michael Whitefoot
Photography ©Michael Whitefoot

Thank you to our professional musicians who made the concert so special! L to R: Stephen Hargreaves, Kevin Gill, David Wynne, Louse Wayman and James Davies.

Photography: ©Michael Whitefoot
Birmingham Festival Choral Society, Brahms, choir, Choral, concert, Concerts in Lichfield, Finzi, Lichfield, news

Singing in Lichfield Cathedral

Leave a comment

Birmingham Festival Choral Society will be travelling to the historic city of Lichfield on 2nd July to give its first concert in the magnificent cathedral.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this special occasion.

        Brahms: A German Requiem

        Finzi: Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice

        Brahms: Hungarian Dances no 5 and 8 (piano duet)

        Brahms – Geistliches Lied Op. 30

        Click Here for tickets

        Birmingham Festival Choral Society

        Conductor: David Wynne

        Soprano: Louise Wayman

        Baritone: James Davies

        Accompanists: Kevin Gill and Stephen Hargreaves

        Saturday 2nd July, 7.30pm

        Lichfield Cathedral WS13 7LD

        Our soloists: James Davies, Baritone, and Louise Wayman, Soprano.

        James Davies
        Louise Wayman

        Our accompanists: Stephen Hargreaves (piano) and Kevin Gill (piano and organ)

        Stephen Hargreaves
        Kevin Gill
          Birmingham Choirs, Birmingham Events, choir, Choral jazz, Jazz, Mass in Blue, news, Passion Music, Will Todd

          Singing with Passion.

          Leave a comment

          Our Passion Music concert on 26th March was a night to remember. Singing with the rhythmic backing of a jazz ensemble and the gorgeous jazz vocalist was a wonderful experience. All those weeks of preparation, and the inspiring workshop with the composer Will Todd came together to produce an evening of glorious choral jazz and blues.

          Piano – Kevin Gill, Double bass – Mike Green, Drums – Julian Powell, Saxophone – Andy Isherwood, Soprano – Hannah Davey.

          Passion Music, written by Will Todd in 2018, is an extremely moving telling of the Easter story of Christ’s passion through English texts set to jazz and blues. We also loved singing Mass in Blue once again.

          The choir wore blue and yellow ribbons to mark the tragic situation in Ukraine. At the beginning of the second half the choir sang A Prayer for Ukraine, and a retiring collection for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Relief Fund raised £620.

          Thank you to talented photographer Kyle Simms for this great collection of photographs from the concert.

          Birmingham Choirs, choir, Choirs in Birmingham, Choral, Choral jazz, choral society, Jazz, Mass in Blue, news, Passion Music, singing, Will Todd

          Our singers talk about singing Choral Jazz.

          Leave a comment

          Will Todd’s Mass in Blue and Passion Music are very different from our usual repertoire, but we’re really loving those jazz rhythms and blues harmonies! Listen to our singers and Music Director talking about the Will Todd music we’re learning for the concert at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre on 26th March.

          choir, Choirs in Birmingham, Choral jazz, Mass in Blue, news, Passion Music, singing, Will Todd

          Inspiration from Will Todd

          Leave a comment

          One of the thrills of performing works by a living composer is that it’s possible to actually meet them, and discover their views on the way they’d like their music to sound. For this reason, we were delighted that Will Todd was able to join in our choir workshop on Sunday 27th February, and share his thoughts on his Mass in Blue and Passion Music as we prepare for our concert on 26th March.

          We all warmed to Will straight away, and soon we found ourselves doing something we would not have believed possible – improvising in Dorian mode! That put us in the right frame of mind to study Passion Music before the break and, fortified by tea and cake, Mass in Blue afterwards.

          David (Wynne), our Music Director, led us in singing each section, and then Will made encouraging and helpful comments on the style and tempo of the music. He was not dogmatic – in fact, one of the features of jazz and blues style is that there is room for interpretation.

          Click to enlarge photos

          Kevin (Gill), accompanied us with those complex jazzy rhythms and unfamiliar blues harmonies on the piano. It is a source of amazement how Kevin can play complex accompaniments to works as diverse as Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Brahm’s German Requiem and Will Todd’s Choral Jazz works without being fazed at all.

          As always, there was plenty of time for humour!

          Will Todd introduces Passion Music: In this video Will Todd describes how he chose the texts and set the music, illustrated with lots of excerpts from rehearsals and performances.

          Buy concert tickets here