City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus

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The City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus (CBSC) is a chorus based in Birmingham, England.

It was founded in 1974 as the CBSO Chorus, but was renamed the CBSC in the 1990s. It is allied with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), but unlike the orchestra, the singers are amateur, although their high standard in their category has lead to them being referred to as "unpaid professionals". Simon Halsey has served as Chorus Director for 18 years.

Because of its close association with the CBSO, the chorus regularly performs with the orchestra. It has also performed with other major orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The chorus has travelled and toured to all the major concert halls around the UK and has toured Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. It has recorded with both the CBSO and other orchestras, mainly on the EMI Classics label. As with the orchestra, the chorus rehearses at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham, and its home venue is Symphony Hall. The CBSO also runs two choruses for young people: the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus (CBSYC) for children aged 8 to 18; and the City of Birmingham Young Voices (CBYV) for young people aged 13 to 21.

[edit] Performances

In 2001, they performed Britten’s Peter Grimes, Bach’s St Matthew Passion and the centenary concerts of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, which the Chorus performed from memory. The chorus also performed in September 2002 in Britten’s War Requiem in Coventry and Ghent cathedrals.

Featured amongst a number of important performances in the past few years was during the CBSC’s 2000 World Tour, the highlight of which was a performance of Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. The CBSC and the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus also performed Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand on three occasions in 2002: with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda at the Bridgewater Hall to open the Commonwealth Games Festival in July, and with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall and the BBC Proms in August.

In May 2002 the CBSC accepted an invitation to record live for EMI at the Vienna Musikverein singing in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. After two performances, the Chorus received complimentary reviews such as from the Wiener Zeitung noting that “the CBSC met Rattle’s demands with transparency, clarity and perfect execution”. October 2003 saw the CBSC joining the City of Birmingham Choir and the CBSO to give the Centenary performances of Elgar’s The Apostles. In January 2004 the CBSC flew to Helsinki to join Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the Finnish premiere of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, a work which they performed later in the year with the CBSO in Birmingham and Amsterdam. On 31 January 2004 the CBSC celebrated its 30th Anniversary, with a choral programme conducted by Simon Halsey, and in June, live concert recordings for EMI of Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle were also produced. In February 2006 the Chorus flew to Hong Kong to take part in the Hong Kong Cultural Festival, giving a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart and performing Fauré's Requiem under Simon Halsey.

[edit] Recordings

The CBSC claims 41 recordings to its credit (as at October 2006), including five award-winning releases: Mahler's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Sir Simon Rattle which won Gramophone Record of the Year in 1988; Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time, conducted by the composer, which was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik; Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, which was awarded the 1995 Gramophone Best Choral Recording. At the 2000 Gramophone Awards the CBSC was awarded Best Opera recording for its EMI release of Szymanowski’s King Roger with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle, and Best Choral recording for its Chandos release of works by Lili Boulanger with the BBC Philharmonic and Yan Pascal Tortelier in 1999. Other recent releases include Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the CBSO, and choral works by Fauré with the BBC Philharmonic. In 2006 the Chorus will release its first completely choral CD under Halsey on the EMI label.