After two years of planning, our collaboration with Liverpool Welsh Choral is finally coming together! LWC’s Music Director, Keith Orrell, came to Birmingham last Wednesday to take our rehearsal, and this weekend 86 BFCS singers will travel to Liverpool for the first of our two joint Carmina Burana concerts.
We are all looking forward to meeting the Liverpool singers for a rehearsal on Saturday, followed by a Hog Roast and Quiz. At 2.30pm, following a Sunday morning rehearsal, the choir of 200 will sing Carmina Burana and the Chichester Psalms in Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall. What an occasion!
Information about the return concert in Birmingham on Saturday 17th June can be found elsewhere on this Website. We hope that you will be able to join us in Liverpool or Birmingham for this exciting programme!
Do you love singing? Come and try a choir practice with Birmingham Festival Choral Society! (No obligation). Chat to our singers over coffee and cake in the interval.
We are a friendly mixed choir who sing a wide variety of the world’s best classical choral music. We’ll be learning Carmina Burana and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms this term, in preparation for concerts with the Liverpool Welsh Choral.
As well as concerts in Birmingham and the Midlands, we tour abroad every 3 years – great for singing experiences, as well as strengthening choir friendships.
We look forward to meeting you!
OPEN REHEARSAL
Wednesday 26th April, 7.00 for 7.15pm. Finishing time 9.30pm
It was a great concert on Saturday, attended by Birmingham’s Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. A full audience heard beautiful Chopin Nocturnes played on the piano by Kevin Gill, and many lovely choral items fitting in with the theme of night. It was a challenging and full repertoire, prepared and directed by our talented new music director, David Wynne.
Open up these links to see the pictures and comments.
Tim Davis and David Wynne were guests on Radio WMs Sonny and Shay programme this afternoon, talking about Birmingham Festival Choral Society, David’s new appointment as Music Director, and the forthcoming ‘Nocturne’ concert.
David was challenged to give Sonny some singing exercises and decide what voice part he was – the conclusion was 1st Bass! Tim managed to get in every last detail about the choir, history, website and rehearsals – well done!
A selection of choral gems, familiar and unfamiliar, with a “nocturnal” theme, interspersed with popular piano music by Chopin, feature in the concert by Birmingham Festival Choral Society on April 1st.
Among the best-known of these fine vocal works are John Tavener’s “Song to Athene”, which rose to fame in 1997 when performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; a setting of the “Londonderry Air” by Bob Chilcott; and “Water Night” by the prolific American choral composer Eric Whitacre.
BFCS patron John Joubert, who celebrates his 90th birthday this March, and whose latest opera Jane Eyre received its premier performance last autumn, is represented by two part-songs, “There is no rose of such virtue” and “O Lorde, the maker of al thing”, the words of the latter being attributed to King Henry VIII.
Part songs by three British composers from an earlier era – Robert Lucas Pearsall, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar – will also be heard, including Parry’s moving “Songs of Farewell”, well-known in the choral repertoire. Brahms’ sacred song “Geistliches Lied” and his secular “Vier Quartette”, together with Faure’s popular “Cantique de Jean Racine” also feature in the programme.
Many of these items will be performed a capella; for the remaining numbers the choir will be joined by regular accompanist Kevin Gill, who also provides an interlude with three of Chopin’s famous Nocturnes.
The concert marks a departure from the more typical repertoire of large-scale works, such as oratorios and masses, by the Society, which has been in existence since the 1840s. (Their next concert in June includes two hugely popular 20th Century works: Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”.)
More importantly, it introduces the Society’s newly appointed Music Director, David Wynne, a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire who has been active in teaching and conducting with both adult and junior choirs in the West Midlands and beyond.
David Wynne, Music Director, Birmingham Festival Choral Society
The concert by Birmingham Festival Choral Society will take place on Saturday April 1st, commencing at 7.30pm, in the fine setting of St John’s and St Peter’s Church (Ladywood ARC), Darnley Road, Birmingham B16 8TF. Tickets (£14, students/under 16s £7) are available on the door before the concert, or beforehand from Ticket Source.
Tom Dance
Post script: David Wynne and Tim Davis have been offered a slot on Radio WMs ‘Sunny & Shay’ programme between 3.30 and 4pm on Monday 20th March! They will be talking about David’s appointment as BFCS Music Director and the forthcoming concert.
Visitors to the 50+show at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) were treated to two 30 minute performances of popular classics from BFCS in Harmony. The programme ranged from settings of ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ by Mozart and Elgar to ‘Joyful joyful’ from ‘Sister Act, which we had sung at a wedding last year. It was great fun – and the receptive audience included someone who came up to tell us that she had sung with the Birmingham Festival Choral Society many years ago, another who was interested in joining in the future, and others who asked for details for booking BFCS in Harmony.
BFCS in Harmony is a small offshoot of the big Birmingham Festival Choral Society (BFCS), and is available to hire for weddings, Christmas carol singing and other events. It is led by Margaret Jones, who also sings contralto in the big BFCS.
Our concert on 1st April contains a wide variety of popular choral music, in keeping with our ‘Nocturne’ theme. This will be the first BFCS concert conducted by our new Music Director, David Wynne! We hope that you will be able to share it with us.
Frederic Chopin Three Nocturnes (Kevin Gill, piano)
Charles H.H.Parry Songs of Farewell (unaccompanied)
Have you made a New Year Resolution to join a choir? Come along to our free Open Rehearsal next Wednesday, 4th January and give us a try, with no obligation! We recommend arriving at 7pm, in order to find your way around and meet some singers before the rehearsal starts at 7.15pm. Please pass the message on to any prospective singers you know.
More information about the choir can be found here: Join our choir
Next Wednesday is also special because we will be welcoming our new Music Director, David Wynne. There will be an extra long coffee break (with cake!) to give us time to get to know each other.
Christmas music filled the air at Ladywood ARC last Saturday. A recorder quartet greeted our guests with Christmas music as they arrived. The lights were dimmed, candles were lit, and the choir processed down the sides of the church to take their places and sing ‘Gaudete’. BFCS sang carols old and new, and invited the audience to sing the traditional carols with us. Kevin Gill conducted the choir and introduced the programme – the final concert in his term as caretaker Music Director.
We were moved by the short talk from ‘Crisis at Christmas’, particularly the testimony of a young student from Azerbaijan, who had been homeless until Crisis helped her get on her feet. She now has a job and can support herself. Singers and audience gave generously and raised £908 for the charity.
We were delighted that the Lord Mayor of Birmingham could attend our Carol Concert, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress. As Councillor Carl Rice, he represents the Ladywood Ward. Crisis at Christmas is a charity they both support. We would like to thank the Lord Mayor for taking the atmospheric candlelit picture of the choir, and posting it on Social Media.
The concert was followed by mince pies and mulled wine, and much conversation.
The small singing group ‘BFCS in Harmony’, led by Margaret Jones, entertained the Residents of Queen Mother Court, Selly Oak, with Carols on Monday 19th December, and our final Christmas event will be the leading of carol singing at ‘The Highfield’, Edgbaston, on Friday 23rd.
Happy Christmas!
Conversation after the concert
The Lord Mayor speaks to representatives of ‘Crisis’.
the recorder quartet playing Christmas music as guests arrived.
The Choir by Candlelight. (Photo taken by the Lord Mayor)
Sylvie Dattas introduces the work by her father, Jean Dattas.
BFCS sing Dattas.
Andrew Randall, baritone.
The soloists take the applause.
Elouise Waterhouse, Mezzo soprano.
BFCS ladies.
A full church to hear the ‘In Paradisum’ concert.
Many thanks to Alfred Whhite for these pictures of our concert last Saturday. The beautiful music by Fauré, Duruflé and Dattas was enjoyed by both the choir and the capacity audience.
One member of the audience sent the following message to our Birmingham Festival Choral Society Facebook page:
Thank you for a lovely evening of music. The Faure pieces were sublime!
The friendly Birmingham choir singing the world's best choral music.
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