Refreshed from our summer break, the singers of Birmingham Festival Choral Society are looking forward to starting rehearsals again. The first two rehearsals, on the 2nd and 9th September, will be Open Rehearsals, when prospective singers are encouraged to come and give us a try and see if it is the choir for you. Come at 7pm and you will receive a friendly welcome and be introduced to someone on your voice part who you can sit with.
The concert posters below show the fabulous music that we will be learning in the next two terms. The concerts will be held in the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – a special treat!
To find out more about joining our choir, check out this page. We hope to meet you soon at one of our rehearsals.
3rd Birmingham Festival Choral Society Oratorio Competition.
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Bradshaw Hall.
26th November 2024
The final of the third BFCS Oratorio Competition was a wonderful celebration of song. The six talented finalists, introduced by Paul Wingfield, Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies at the Conservatoire, each performed three or four oratorio pieces, ranging from Handel and Bach to Tippet and Hindemith. The audience enjoyed discussing their favourites in the interval – should they judge on technique, difficulty of repertoire, communication with the audience, quality of the voice? Would their favourite three be the same as the three selected by the judges, David Wynne and Kevin Gill?
The judges, David Wynne (left) and Kevin Gill.
In the end, the judges were unable to choose between contralto Laura Toomey and soprano Beth Taylor and made them joint Prize winners!
The crystal trophy and cheques were presented by David Fletcher, the Chair of BFCS. We all look forward to hearing the results of the other part of the prize – a booking to sing at a future BFCS concert
Joint Oratorio Prize winners Beth Taylor (left) and Laura Toomey, with David Fletcher.
Tenor Joe Yates was a worthy runner up. The pieces he sang were:
Handel: Let festal joy triumphant reign, from Belshazzar
Haydn: A crystal pavement lies the lake, from The Seasons
Vivaldi: Peccator videbit, from Beatus Vir.
The six finalists
Laura ToomeyElissa StreetJoe YatesSophie HendersonMairi McGillivrayBeth Taylor
Left to right: Beth Taylor, Sophie Henderson, Laura Toomey, Joe Yates, Elissa Street and Mairi McGillivray.
The six finalists
The accompanists:
Jonathan French, accompanist for Sophie , Joe and ElissaSara Willander and Mairi McGillivrayAshley Wagner and Beth TaylorTomas Howell, accompanist to Laura ToomeyPaul Wingfield, Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies
On Sunday 14th July we gathered together in the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre for an wonderful afternoon of opera music. The choir sang a wide variety of opera choruses, from baroque composers Handel and Purcell, to Verdi and Wagner. Verdi’s Anvil chorus and Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves were particular favourites.
We had really enjoyed leaning these wonderful melodies over the past term – and the struggles of learning words in Russian, French, Italian and German finally seemed worthwhile. We all enjoyed being opera singers for an afternoon!
Click to expand any photo
One of the special delights of this concert was that it featured Ellen Smith, the 2023 prize winner of the BFCS Oratorio Competition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Part of the prize was a booking to sing at a BFCS concert, and this concert gave the perfect opportunity to showcase her wonderful skills in singing operatic works from composers such as Bizet, Handel and Walton.
The second soloist, Abigail Baylis, had also been a finalist in the Oratorio Competition, reminding us how high the standard was in that final. Her solos ranged from the pathos of Purcell’s Dido’s Lament to a fearsome bridezilla in It’s my wedding by Jonathan Dove.
The audience was treated to a surprise when one of our basses, Jason Schaub, whipped out a gold patterned jacket and came forward to sing the wonderful Tchaikovsky aria Vy tak pechalny, from Pique Dame! Jason also sang Verdi’s Alzati eri tu macchiavi in the second half. Very few of the singers had realised what a wonderful talent we have amongst us – Jason had been a professional musician and singer before taking up his academic career at the University of Birmingham.
In contrast, the talent of our accompanist , Kevin Gill, is well known to our singers and audience. Kevin can turn his hand to whatever style of music we perform – whether it be traditional choral masses and requiems, choral jazz or opera. While the choir took a rest to listen to the solos, Kevin was accompanying every single item in the concert to his usual high standard.
Another person who didn’t have a chance to take a break was our Music Director, David Wynne, who was conducting the whole concert. He also introduced all the items, and you can see from the expressions of the choir that there was plenty of humour!
The tenors and basses had their chance to shine in The Soldier’s Chorus from Gounod’s Faust, and the Priest’s Chorus from The Magic Flute by Mozart. Nick Lampert and Jason Schaub (basses) and James Bullin (tenor) also had short solos in the Waltz Scene from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky.
The sopranos and altos had to change demeanor from being peasant girls to witches in their two choruses! They sang The chorus of the Peasant Girls, from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and Verdi’s Witches Chorus from Macbeth.
The final applause came and flowers were distributed to all the performers – but then an encore! A semichorus stepped forward from the choir, to be joined by Abigail and Ellen, and we sang the magnificent rousing Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni.
An E mail from an audience member who had travelled from London for the concert said “…soloists and choir were terrific and the Mascagni encore was even more thrilling, in my book, than the version I heard a few months ago at Covent Garden”.
What an ending to a wonderful concert!
Photo credit: Mike FordPhoto credit: Kyle Simms
Many thanks to Alfred White who took all of the photographs, except for the three otherwise labelled.
The second Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Oratorio competition, sponsored by Birmingham Festival Choral Society, took place on Monday evening, 30th October 2024. The six finalists treated the audience in the recital hall of the conservatoire to an evening of performances of the highest standard, singing music written by composers ranging from Bach and Handel to Durufle and Joubert.
BFCS’s big claim to fame is that we were the choir that performed the premiere of Elijah in 1846, so it was particularly good to hear three solos from that popular oratorio.
Ellen Smith, mezzo-soprano, was placed first, winning a financial prize, a trophy and a future engagement with BFCS. Ellen’s programme consisted of Es ist vollbract , from Bach’s St John Passion, Yet can I hear that dulcet lay, from the Choice of Hercules by Handel, and Pie Jesu from Durufle’s Requiem.
Second prize went to baritone Oliver Barker, who sang Lord God of Abraham from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, The Man he killed from the South of the line by John Joubert and Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, from Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.
Tenor Joe Yates was placed Third, after singing Domine Deus from Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, The enemy said, from Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Deposuit potentes from Bach’s Magnificat and finally If with all your hearts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Abigail BaylisDaniel MarlesGabriella Rea Fanyvesi
Tenor Daniel Marles and sopranos Abigail Baylis and Gabriella Rea Fanyvesi also delighted the audience with arias by de Lalande, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn.
All 17 performances were expertly accompanied by Jonathan French on the piano.
The adjudicator for the Oratorio competition was our BFCS Music Director, David Wynne. Many in the audience were glad that they were not in David’s shoes, as it was so difficult to chose between the singers! Tracy Piotrowska , BFCS Vice-Chair made the presentations.
Congratulations to all the singers for such great performances. We’ll enjoy following their future careers in music. We particularly look forward to working with Ellen when she takes up her prize as the soprano soloist at one of our future concerts.
Postscript May 2024: Ellen Smith and Abigail Baylis were the soloists at our ‘Opera in the Afternoon’ concert on Sunday 14th July 2024.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society is delighted to be joined by a constellation of musical stars to lift our performance of ‘The Creation’ to the heavens.
Alexandra Eve Wynne enjoys a busy freelance music career, singing regularly as an oratorio soloist. For BFCS, she stepped in at very short notice as soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah last November. She joined the choir as soloist on their last tour to Romania in 2019, and is looking forward to doing so again in Germany in May 2023.
Alexandra is a dedicated teacher, holding posts at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department, King Edward VI Five Ways, and Elmhurst Ballet School (in association with Birmingham Royal Ballet). She is the founder of Choirs at Work Ltd, an award-winning company providing choral training for wellbeing and team building to organisations across the UK. As a choral director at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department, she works with the intermediate choir, for 8-14 year olds.
Dale Harris (tenor) has been freelance singing for 10 years and performing both at home and abroad, notably with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The most recent production, The Comedy of Errors, spanned the majority of 2021. Dale spends much of his remaining time performing in Opera and Operetta, including an array of Gilbert and Sullivan shows and recently in Mozart’s Magic Flute, La Traviatta (Gaston) and Puccini’s Tosca (Spoletta). His 2023, diary is filling fast, with Carmen, Don Giovanni, and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater of particular note.
Midlands-born baritone, Edward Robinson, has a passion for opera which has led to performances in a number of innovative productions during his career. He also has a busy schedule on the concert platform, singing as guest soloist in many choral works.
Over the last 5 years Edward has become increasingly sought after as a Vocal Animateur and Workshop Facilitator. Through his work with Pimlico Opera’s scheme “Primary Robins”, Edward delivers 16 sessions a week introducing opera, folk and musical theatre to inner city students from Manchester schools in areas of high deprivation. Edward has also led both primary and secondary projects for Leeds Lieder Festival, working alongside musicians and poets to present Art Song to new audiences. Alongside pianist Rachel Fright, he is an associate artist for the organisations Live Music Now and SoundUp Arts, leading performances and workshops at special schools as well as for people living with dementia across the North East.
Kevin Gill (chamber organ) is BFCS’s regular accompanist. As well as running a private teaching practice he has frequently given organ recitals in and around Birmingham, as well as piano duet recitals. Kevin has accompanied BFCS concerts in many churches, cathedrals and concert halls in Birmingham and the wider Midlands, and on tours of Belgium, Holland, Slovenia, Estonia, Slovakia, Ireland, Burgundy, and most recently Romania.
Kevin has accompanied various choral societies in a wide range of choral works, and in January 2008 was appointed Musical Director of Atherstone Choral Society.
David Wynne enjoys a hugely varied career as a freelance musician. As a conductor, David is Music Director of Birmingham Festival Choral Society, Coventry Philharmonic Society and Warwick and Kenilworth Choral Society.
David holds a masters degree in Vocal and Operatic performance from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and is a busy freelance baritone soloist. David is a visiting lecturer at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department teaching singing, conducting and musicianship, and is Choral Director of the senior chorus and the vocal ensemble.
David and his wife Alexandra co-founded the St Chad’s Cathedral Junior Choir and the extensive Choral Outreach Programme which sees them teaching choral singing to approximately 500 children a year across Birmingham.
Central England Camerata, founded by freelance violinist Anna Downes in 2013, has become one of the most sought-after chamber orchestras in the central region of the UK. It now works regularly with Hereford Cathedral Chamber Choir, Ledbury Choral Society, Derby Choral Union, Warwick and Kenilworth Choral Society, Birmingham Festival Choral Society, the Choirs of Southwell Minster, and Cantores Chamber Choir.
CEC is made up of professional musicians who freelance in many top orchestras. It has appeared at music festivals across the UK, touring with Andrew Downes’ Ballad of St Kenelm. In August 2017 CEC performed a series of film music concerts at Moseley’s Lord of the Rings Festival. In 2020/21, CEC made several professional recordings of the music of Andrew Downes: Festival Overture to St Cere, Toccata for Small Orchestra, Symphony no 6, and the Christmas Cantata. In August 2022, the orchestra recorded Downes’ brand new Violin Concerto with soloist Rupert Marshall-Luck, and the live première is planned for Spring 2024.
Christmas is coming! The Birmingham Festival Choral Society Christmas concert will be held on Sunday 4th December at St Anne’s Church, Park Hill, Moseley. Take note of the 4.30pm start time
Our main work is Wassail! Carols of Comfort and Joy by Alexander L’Estrange – a lovely medley of Christmas carols written for adult and children’s choirs, accompanied by a jazz/folk band.
Listen to the composer introducing the work:
Adult choir: Birmingham Festival Choral Society
Children’s Choir: Eversfield Preparatory School
Band:
Andy Derrick: Double Bass Bethany Toulson: Recorder Julian Powell: Percussion Karen Street: Accordion Kevin Gill: Piano and organ
There will also be carols for the audience to sing, Christmas music from the performers – and a visit from FATHER CHRISTMAS!
The Birmingham Festival Choral Society performance of Elijah on 5th November was a thrilling occasion, with many audience members saying that it was the best BFCS concert they had ever heard! The choir, orchestra and soloists were all on top form, performing to a full house at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre.
Many thanks also to Alfred White for the photos of a concert to remember.
The role of Elijah was sung with great dramatic effect by opera baritone Byron Jackson. A star performance! Our reviewer said that Byron’s singing of Elijah’s song of despair: ‘It is enough’ was one of the most moving performances that he had ever heard. Byron’s position high above the choir and orchestra increased the drama.
Image: Jill Lampert
Molly Barker (Jezebel, an angel), Alexandra Wynne (widow, angel), Polly Stirland (youth, angel) and Peter Davoren (Obadiah, Ahab) were also first class. Alexandra’s performance was even more impressive when people realised that she had stepped in at 24 hours notice!
An E mail sent by a member of the audience said that The soloists were ALL superb – and I was brought up on Isobel Baillie and Kathleen Ferrier, spent some of my earliest wages on the recording with Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda, and Fischer-Dieskau, and have since acquired the Renee Fleming / Bryn Terfel version! The trio and quartets were exquisite, and it was such a good idea to bring the soloists in for the last few bars of the final chorus, not least for the tenors, who will I’m sure have been grateful for the help with that sustained top A after an evening of very hard work.
Image: Jill Lampert
The trio of angels singing ‘Lift thine eyes to the mountains’ was another highlight of the concert, as shown by the comments on social media below this photo:
Voices from heaven (TP), Spine tingling, absolutely incredible beauty (MF), Beautiful (NW), This was so movingly sung. Absolutely superb. Thank you to the three of you. (JA). A truly wonderful evening. Our friends who attended were ‘blown away’ by the performance with one saying it was the best concert of BFCS’s that he’s attended….(DM)
It was wonderful to sing those big choruses accompanied by the Central England Camerata and Kevin Gill on the organ. The individual instruments brought so much depth to the arias and slow movements too.
Don’t forget the choir, who sang their hearts out, just as their predecessors had done at the Premiere in 1846. We can see why this marvellous work has been such a favourite with choral societies to this day.
Another extract from that Email sent by a member of the audience…
Fantastic performance of Elijah on Saturday night. It’s a work I know well and love greatly, and the trip over from Coventry proved more than worth the effort.
The choir was excellent, and certainly enacted that great rule of performance – make sure you start and end well! That first cry for help and the triumphant final Amen were both exhilarating.
(Click on photos to open in full.)
Finally, a special mention goes to David Wynne, who prepared the choir so well, and brought such a wonderful collection of musicians together to perform under his leadership. Thank you David!
Judges David Wynne (Music Director of BFCS) and Kevin Gill (BFCS accompanist) awarded the trophy to baritone Jia Huang, after his impressive performance of two Handel works: Revenge, Timotheus cries and Honour and arms.
Jia Huang was presented with the Birmingham Festival Choral Society Oratorio Trophy by David Fletcher, Chair of BFCS. As well as the trophy, Jia has won a financial prize and a future engagement singing with Birmingham Festival Choral Society.
Jia is pictured here with his accompanist, Guang Feng, and Paul Wingfield, the Head of the Vocal Department at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Runners up in the competition were Julia Morgan (2nd place) and Ellen Smith (3rd place), pictured here with the judges:
The judges with Julia Morgan 2nd place.
The judges with Ellen Smith, 3rd place.
Birmingham Festival Choral Society is proud to support young talent, and we wish great success to all the finalists in their future careers.
Felix Mendelssohn’s choral masterpiece Elijah is a dramatic telling of stories from the life of the Old Testament prophet. It’s all there – fire, storms, curses and drought, to be followed later by a song of the angels and ascent to heaven in a fiery chariot. The range of dramatic choruses and arias make it a great favourite with choral societies and audiences.
The part of Elijah will be sung in our concert by baritone Byron Jackson. The other vocal soloists in our talented line-up will be Carrie-Ann Williams and Polly Stirland (Sopranos), Molly Barker (Mezzo soprano) and Peter Davoren (Tenor).
David Wynne will bring together the Birmingham Festival Choral Society and soloists, Kevin Gill on the organ and the 22 piece Central England Camerata, making it a night to remember.
Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Saturday 5th November 7.30pm.
The Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, Kings Edward’s School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2UA
Click here to read about our choir singing the World Premiere of Elijah, with Mendelssohn himself conducting.
The friendly Birmingham choir singing the world's best choral music.
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