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.
April 12th 2025 was a night to remember! A choir of 194 singers and a full orchestra came together to perform Elgar’s choral masterpiece Dream of Gerontius, under the inspiring direction of David Wynne.
The planning for this project had begun long ago, when we started talking about what would be a suitable work to mark the 175th anniversary of the formation of the Birmingham Festival Choral Society. Joining with other choirs would be wonderful – but would we be able to find a venue big enough? In the end, Covid and lockdowns intervened, and it didn’t seem possible.
Fast forward to 2025, and here we were, celebrating BFCS’s 180th anniversary by singing Dream of Gerontius in All Saints Church Leamington Spa! Our fellow singers in the large chorus came from Coventry Philharmonic Choir (MD David Wynne) and the Athersone Choral Society (MD Kevin Gill). Singing such a major work with wonderful professional soloists and the Leamington Chamber Orchestra was a great experience.
The evening had started with a talk by David McLoughlin, Emeritus Fellow, Birmingham Newman University. He put John Henry Newman’s whole poem in context , from the thoughts and feelings of Gerontius before his death, to his journey in the afterlife before finally coming before the Almighty. Performing the work as a whole, rather than in sections for rehearsal, was very inspiring, whether one took it from the point of view of Christian faith, or from the point of view of seeing Elgar’s musical vision fulfilled.
We were very fortunate that a singer of such quality as Matthew was able to come at relatively short notice, when Gwion Thomas, the baritone advertised on the posters, had to withdraw.
Kevin Gill also played a major part in bringing this piece to fruition. He prepared the Atherstone Choral Society for the concert, as well as accompanying the Birmingham Festival Choral Society’s rehearsals and playing the organ in the performance.
The Leamington Chamber Orchestra lifted the performance to greater heights!
David Wynne was the man who brought it all together, visualising the initial concept, spending many hours training his choirs to such a high standard, and finally bringing out the very best of the choirs and orchestra at the performance. Bravo!
The final important component of a wonderful concert is an appreciative audience! The tickets completely sold out and a handful of people had to sit in the half-price overflow seats behind the choir.
Here are a couple of examples of the feedback we received after the concert:
….What a wonderful evening and so beautifully and brilliantly performed. It was so moving. I totally loved the way the dynamics came across, given the large choir and orchestra, it was unbelievably beautiful and produced quite a stunning effect. I got quite emotional several times, especially during the second half…
FH former BFCS singer
I would just like to say how much I enjoyed the performance of ‘Dream of Gerontius’ on Saturday evening. The performance was stunning and the organisation of the event was also very professional, and for me the evening will leave a lasting impression.
St John’s and St Peter’s Church, Birmingham, B16 8TF
Sunday 8th December 2024, 4.30pm
Come to our concert of Christmas music, carols and Christmas refreshments. We are also expecting a visit from a certain Christmas gentleman!
Birmingham Festival Choral Society will be joined by the choir of Bournville Village Primary School, directed by Rachael Stidwell. Kevin Gill will be accompanying from both the piano and organ, and David Wynne is the Music Director.
A collection will be taken for St Basils, the charity helping young people find and keep a home. This charity was chosen by the Bournville Village Primary School choir.
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.
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.
Kevin Gill and Stephen Hargreaves, our impressive piano duo, played the piano duet accompaniment to Brahms’ German Requiem, and two of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
We’re delighted that Will Todd is coming to our choir workshop on Sunday. We’ll be rehearsing ‘Passion Music’ and ‘Mass in Blue’ , and it will be a real treat to hear insights from the composer of these wonderful pieces. They are challenging to learn, but it’s so rewarding to sing those complex rhythms and gorgeous blues harmonies.
In this 25 minute video, Will Todd gives us an insight into choosing the words for ‘Passion music’ and setting them to music. His fusion of choral, jazz and blues styles brings out the meaning of the story of Christ’s passion with spiritual sensitivity.
Our Rossini concert on 30th October was a great occasion. It was wonderful to be performing live again – the first concert for 2 years.
Our concert in the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, Birmingham.
BFCS had been ready to perform Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in March 2020 when the pandemic caused the cancellation of the concert. We’ve been keeping it going during our Zoom rehearsals, so it was very well prepared! It was really enjoyable to sing it with such talented professionals – our soloists, Mimi Doulton, Rachel Gilmore, Ed Harrisson and Joe Kennedy, our accompanists, Ben de Souza and Kevin Gill, and our conductor, David Wynne. We were also very pleased to see so many of our friends and family in the audience.
Thank you to Alfred White for these lovely photos – a great souvenir of a wonderful evening.
Joe Kennedy (bass), Ed Harrisson (tenor), Rachel Gilmore (mezzo), Mimi Doulton (soprano)Ben de Souza (accordion), Kevin Gill (piano).David Wynne (conductor).
Birmingham Festival Choral Society singers. Click the arrows to see all four photos.
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