Tag Archives: Concerts in Birmingham

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Feel the Spirit

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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

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Christmas music!

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 Sun 14th December 2025 4:30PM

Join us for an hour of joyful Christmas music, followed by seasonal refreshments!

The carols and Christmas songs will be sung by the Birmingham Festival Choral Society (music director David Wynne) and the Bournville Village Primary School Choir (conductor Rachael Stidwill). Our organist/pianist is Kevin Gill.

It is even rumoured that Father Christmas might make an appearance!

A speaker from the charity ‘Helping Hands of Birmingham’, will tell us about their work amongst homeless people in Birmingham, and we will all have a chance to make donations at the end of the concert.

Click here to see the full programme

 St John’s and St Peter’s Church,

Birmingham, B16 8TF

Click here for tickets

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Opera in the Afternoon

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We’re so enjoying learning the music for our summer concert, Opera in the Afternoon, and we know that you’ll love it too! Please join us in the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre at 4pm on Sunday 14th July for an afternoon of favourite opera choruses and arias: Humming chorus, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Pilgrims’ Chorus, Witches’ Chorus, Easter hymn and many more.

Click here to see the full list of tuneful and dramatic choruses and arias.

Birmingham Festival Choral Society will be joined by Ellen Smith (mezzo soprano) and Abigail Baylis (soprano) who were both finalists in the most recent Oratorio Competition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, sponsored by BFCS. Ellen Smith was the 2023 Prize winner.

Click to read an account of the 2023 BFCS Oratorio competition at the Conservatoire.

Ellen Smith
Abigail Baylis

Kevin Gill will be accompanying this beautiful music on the piano, and David Wynne will be the conductor. We hope that you will be able to join us for this wonderful afternoon of Opera music!

Click here for tickets
Birmingham Music, Birmingham What's On, choir, Choral jazz, concert, Concerts in Birmingham, Jazz

Come to our concert on Saturday!

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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

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Rossini – our next concert.

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Come and hear BFCS sing Rossini’s lovely Petite Messe Solennelle on Saturday 28th March, at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, King Edward’s School.

The Petite Messe Solennelle was written for performance at one of the very popular weekly musical salons held by Rossini and his wife at their Paris home. As such, it was originally scored for a small choir, accompanied by two pianos, with harmonium or accordion. We are looking forward to singing with piano and accordion accompaniment.

Our soloists:

Caroline Modiba, soprano, Rachel Gilmore, mezzo soprano,

Joseph Kennedy, baritone, Richard Hansen, tenor.

Kevin Gill, piano, Ben De Souza, accordion

Rossini achieved superstar status early in life, having written over 40 operas by the age of 37. The William Tell Overture is one of the pieces for which he is best known in popular culture today. There followed a period of 25 years of ill health, during which he didn’t compose any new music.

In 1855 Rossini ‘returned to life’ on moving to Paris with his second wife, and their musical salons became internationally famous. These salons included music by many composers, and they inspired Rossini to write over 150 small works for performance by different soloists and ensembles.

The Petite Messe Solennelle was Rossini’s last major work , written in 1863. The opera composer’s beautiful melodies , colour and drama make this one of the most popular works in the choral repertoire. We love singing it, and we’re sure that you will enjoy listening to it!

Click here for tickets to Petite Messe Solennelle

Birmingham Choirs, Birmingham What's On, Carol concert, choir, Choirs in Birmingham, choral society, concert, Join a choir, Music Performance

Our 2019/20 programme – save the dates!

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We are delighted to present the flyers for our four main concerts in the 2019/20 season. They cover a wide range of choral music, including works by the Baroque composer, Handel, the 19th Century Operatic composer, Rossini and 20th and 21st century composers inspired by Jazz and Blues.

Make sure that you save the dates – not forgetting the very popular Christmas concert.

Whether singing or listening, we hope that you will enjoy them all!