Birmingham Bach Choir is one of the Birmingham’s oldest musical groups, predating both the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and the City of Birmingham Choir.''Good Friday Choir Sing Messiah''
The Phoenix Newspaper, Birmingham, publication date not specified; accessed 4 April 2019. The choir's aim is to give inspiring live performances to a professional standard that engage with audiences, with a mix of new and established repertoire.

Brief History

The origins of Birmingham Bach Choir date back to October 1919 and the formation of the ''Birmingham Bach Society''
Bach Cantatas, accessed 4 April 2019. which was established by Bernard Jackson, a Bach enthusiast and musicologist.
Birmingham Bach Choir website, accessed 4 April 2019. In 1929 the choir was re-established as ''The Birmingham Bach Club'' and affiliated to ''The Bach Cantata Club'' in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Dr. Allen Blackhall, organist at St. Mary’s, Warwick and subsequently Principal of the Birmingham School of Music, was appointed conductor. The society was returned to the name ''Birmingham Bach Society'' in 1947. Richard Butt was appointed as Conductor and Director of Music in 1966 ushering in a new era for the choir,''Tributes to former Birmingham Bach Choir conductor Richard Butt''
Birmingham Post, 17 October 2010, accessed 4 April 2019. which included major changes to organisation and programming as choral performances were accompanied by recitals by such leading figures as

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...

, Paul Tortelier and George Malcolm. Links also developed with

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and Bach’s own Church of St. Thomas’s. The Choir was invited to give a performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor there in 1989 with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra - an event they describe as "one of the great crowning achievements in the life of the Choir." During Richard Butt’s time various commissions were undertaken, in particular from David Lord, Rory Boyle and

Paul Spicer Paul Spicer (born August 18, 1975) is an American football coach and former defensive end who is the defensive line coach for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football at Saginaw Valley State. He then played 12 seasons in ...

(''Darling of the World'').

Paul Spicer: 1992-present

took over as Conductor in 1992''Review''
Music Web International CD review by John Quinn. Accessed 4 April 2019. after being invited to apply by Richard Butt the year before. Shortly after Paul joined, the choir changed its name to the ''Birmingham Bach Choir'', and extended its repertoire into the 20th century and contemporary music, notably works by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

and John Joubert. The choir has continued to premiere new choral works, including Spicer's ''The Deciduous Cross'', a work based on five poems by RS Thomas commissioned for Paul's 10th anniversary as conductor; ''Easter Oratorio'' which was recorded by the Choir with Lichfield Cathedral Choristers and Special Choir and the English Symphony Orchestra in 2005; and ''Unfinished Remembering'', at Birmingham Symphony Hall in 2014, to commemorate the centenary of the start of the Great War. The performance of ''Unfinished Remembering'' was described by the Birmingham Post as "one of the most important concerts" in the choir's history. Other premieres include ''Universal Nature'' by John Joubert (commissioned by Nicholas Fisher for the choir and first performed in 1994); ''My Heart Danceth'' by

Eleanor Alberga Eleanor Deanne Therese Alberga (born 1949) is a Jamaican contemporary music composer who lives and works in the United Kingdom. Career Eleanor Alberga was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She decided at the age of five to be a concert pianist and ...

(commissioned by the choir as part of a nationwide series of concerts celebrating the eightieth birthday of John Joubert, composer and patron of the Choir, and debuted in 2007); and ''Steal Away'', a spiritual-based piece written by

as part of the choir's 2019 centenary. In 2019,

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

was announced as a Patron, as part of the choir's year long centenary celebrations, which included an autumn Gala Concert at

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...

Repertoire

Although the main focus of the choir is the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period, they perform music spanning over 500 years including 20th and 21st century works. Discussing the Choir's repertoire, Paul Spicer told MusicWeb International's John Quinn: "Whenever we do Bach we feel we’re coming home, so it is a Bach choir, very much with a purpose. But we have a very broad-based repertoire indeed and we go back a long way before Bach and come right up to the present day. And, of course, with my particular interest in twentieth century British music we’ve done a huge amount of that over these years."

Commissions and First Performances

The choir has premiered numerous new choral pieces by distinguished composers, many of them commissioned. These include ''Wofully Araide'' commissioned from David Lord (1970); ''Best Glorious Man'' (1991) and ''The Rochester Triptych'' (1994) by John Jourbert (1991); ''Love and Life'' by

Adrian Partington Adrian Frederick Partington (born 1 October 1958) is an English conductor, chorus master, organist and pianist. He is director of music at Gloucester Cathedral, joint conductor of the Three Choirs Festival and artistic director for the Glouceste ...

(1999); ''How God Answers the Soul'' by

Aaron Jay Kernis Aaron Jay Kernis (born January 15, 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning American composer serving as a member of the Yale School of Music faculty. Kernis spent 15 years as the music advisor to the Minnesota Orchestra and as Dir ...

(1996); as well as numerous pieces by

including ''A Shared Singing'' and ''Unfinished Remembering'' (2014), ''Festival'' (2015) and ''The Darling of the World'' (1986).

Critical reception

The choir have been described as one of the UK's leading large chamber choirs They have been praised for their "wonderful breadth of tone" and "thought-provoking" performances, boasting "an impressive team of soloists."''Birmingham Bach Choir 4-stars''
ReviewsGate, Paul Gray, November 2018, accessed 4 April 2019.

Discography

* ''Easter Oratorio'' (2005)- described by MusicWeb International as "a substantial work" with the choir "singing with good tone and dynamic range, clarity and conviction."

References

External links

Birmingham Bach Choir website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham Bach Choir 1919 establishments in England Musical groups established in 1919 Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands Bach choirs