BBC Singers

Not to be confused with BBC Symphony Chorus.

The BBC Singers are the professional chamber choir of the BBC. As one of six BBC Performing Groups, the 24-voiced choir has been in existence for more than 80 years. The BBC Singers have commissioned and premiered works by the leading composers of the past century, including Benjamin Britten, Sir Michael Tippett, Judith Weir and Sir John Tavener. They regularly perform alongside leading international orchestras and conductors, and make invitational appearances at national events such as the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in Westminster Abbey.

The BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios. They perform across the country, tour internationally, and undertake nationwide outreach programmes. They have released several commercial CDs.

Notable former members of the group include the tenor Sir Peter Pears, the mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, the composer Judith Bingham and the conductor Harry Christophers (director of The Sixteen).

History

A BBC choir was formed in 1924 for a performance of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, under the name of the Wireless Chorus. From this group emerged a professional consort, the Wireless Singers. This chamber-sized group would later become the BBC Singers in their current form. Guest conductors during these early years included Sir Edward Elgar, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and a young Sir John Barbirolli.

In 1931 the Wireless Singers were invited to perform at the Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music, the first time this event had been held in Britain. Following the success of the event, they went on to establish themselves as the leading proponents of contemporary music in the UK, a reputation upheld by the BBC Singers today.

The tenor Peter Pears was a member of the Singers when, in 1934, Benjamin Britten composed the cantata A Boy was Born for the group. After meeting during rehearsals for the cantata, the pair became lifelong partners, with Pears serving as the muse for many of Britten's compositions.

In 1939, Chorus Master Leslie Woodgate described the operation and function of the various BBC choirs, including the Singers, in an interview with The Musical Times.[1]

During the heavy bombing of the Second World War, the Wireless Singers were forced to relocate several times from their base in Maida Vale, briefly taking up residence in Bristol, Bangor and Bedford. Despite the chaos of these years, in 1945 they were able to give the premiere of Francis Poulenc's wartime cantata La figure humaine from the Concert Hall of Broadcasting House.

From the late 1940s the Wireless Singers began to tour across Europe, appearing under the baton of such musical giants as Herbert von Karajan, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter. In England they worked with George Enescu, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Igor Stravinsky. From 1946 they became a staple feature of the new radio arts network, the Third Programme.

The middle years of the twentieth century provided an enormously rich list of new pieces for the Singers, including premieres of major works by Darius Milhaud, Frank Martin, Paul Hindemith, Gerald Finzi, Sir Michael Tippett, Pierre Boulez, Sir Arthur Bliss and Karol Szymanowski. In 1964 composer and conductor Pierre Boulez began an association with the BBC Singers that continues to the present day.

From 1945 to 1962 the group was divided into two octets known as Singers A and Singers B, one specialising in less standard repertoire including Renaissance polyphony and madrigals, the other in light music and revue numbers. Singers A were typically paid £1 per week more than Singers B.

From 1962 these two groups were amalgamated to form a 28-voice group named the BBC Chorus. Finally, in 1989 the 24-voiced BBC Singers was established, under the direction of Simon Joly. The BBC Singers remains the only full-time professional choir in the country and are the only group whose regular repertory spans the history of music, from the earliest chant to the latest vocal techniques.

The appointment of Bo Holten as Guest Conductor in 1991 marked a radical alteration in the group's approach to Early Music, indicative of the changing musical scene of the day. The BBC Singers now work alongside specialists in the field including Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars) and Robert Hollingworth (I Fagiolini) giving several broadcasts a year. In addition, the BBC Singers continue to perform large-scale orchestral works with international conductors.

Current conductors

Stephen Cleobury, now Conductor Laureate, was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from 1995 to 2007. In addition, he has been Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge for the past 30 years, and has played a pivotal role in supporting contemporary choral composition through his work with both King's College and the BBC Singers.

Grammy-award winning musician David Hill, current Chief Conductor, trained as an organist before taking up choral direction. As with his predecessor, Stephen Cleobury, Hill has a background in cathedral music. Between them, the pair have directed the choirs of St John's College, Cambridge, King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral.

Bob Chilcott, one of two Principal Guest Conductors, was a member of the King's Singers for 12 years and is well known as the composer of music for children's choirs as well as a large catalogue of works and arrangements for choirs of all sizes.

Paul Brough, appointed Principal Guest Conductor in January 2011, is Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He is respected as an orchestral conductor as well as a choral director, working with groups including the Britten Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata.

Commissioned works

Over the past eight decades the BBC Singers have performed and commissioned more than a hundred new works. These include pieces by Michael Berkeley, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, John Casken, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Thea Musgrave, Edmund Rubbra, Robert Saxton, Sir John Tavener, Sir Michael Tippett and Iannis Xenakis.

Select list of commissioned works:

In 2002 Edward Cowie became the BBC Singers' first Associate Composer. In this role, Cowie produced multiple new works each year for performance by the Singers, and took part in workshops with young composers from schools, universities and music colleges.

Judith Bingham was the next to fill this position, in 2004, and was succeeded in 2010 by Gabriel Jackson.

Performances

The BBC Singers can be heard in concert, on the radio, on recordings and in education workshops. They are often invited to perform alongside other BBC Performing Groups, in particular the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and are regular guests at the BBC Proms. Broadcasts are given from locations around the country.

Select discography:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The B.B.C. Choral Society: Interview with Leslie Woodgate". The Musical Times 80 (1157): 493–495. July 1939. doi:10.2307/923391. Retrieved 16 January 2015. JSTOR archive.

External links