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The BBC Singers are a professional 24-voice chamber choir run by the BBC, founded in 1924.

The choir is frequently featured in BBC broadcasts (particularly on BBC Radio 3) and performs regularly at the Proms and in other concerts. The choir has also released a number of commercial CDs.

The BBC Singers sang the Libera Me from Verdi's Requiem at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The current Chief Conductor of the choir is David Hill.

Conductors

David Hill Chief Conductor

Stephen Cleobury Conductor Laureate

Bob Chilcott Principal Guest Conductor

Associate Composers

Gabriel Jackson (January 2010- present)

Judith Bingham (2005-9)

Edward Cowie (2002-5)

Recordings

2008 Judith Bingham - Remoter Worlds - David Hill (conductor) Catalogue No. Signum Classics SIGCD144

2008 Judith Weir - The Welcome Arrival of Rain - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins (conductor) Catalogue No. NMC D137

2008 Janacek - The Excursions of Mr Broucek - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jirí Belohlávek (conductor)

2007 Elizabeth Maconchy - Music for voices - Odaline de la Martinez (conductor) Catalogue No. LNT127

2007 Rachmaninoff - Francesca di Rimini - BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor) Catalogue No. Chandos 10442

2007 Bob Chilcott - Man I Sing - Bob Chilcott, (conductor) Catalogue No. Signum Classics SIGCD100

2007 Brian Ferneyhough - Choral works - Lontano, Odaline de la Martinez (conductor) Catalogue No. Metier msv28501

2007 Michael Tippett - Choral Images - Stephen Cleobury (conductor) Catalogue No. Signum Classics SIGCD092

2007 Paul Dukas - Ariane et Barbe-Bleue - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein (conductor) Catalogue No. TELARC 80680

2005 Britten - Death in Venice - City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox (conductor) Catalogue No. Chandos 10280(2)

2005 One Star, At Last - A selection of carols of our time - Stephen Cleobury (conductor) Catalogue No. Signum Classics SIGCD067

2005 Alexander Levine - Kolokolà - James Morgan (conductor) Catalogue No. Albany TROY736

References

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{distinguish|BBC Symphony Chorus}}
 [[File:BBC Singers logo 1.jpg|border|right|150px|Logo]]
-The '''BBC Singers''' is a professional 24-voice [[chamber choir]] run by the [[BBC]], founded in 1924.
+The '''BBC Singers''' are a professional 24-voice [[chamber choir]] run by the [[BBC]], founded in 1924.
 The choir is frequently featured in BBC broadcasts (particularly on [[BBC Radio 3]]) and performs regularly at [[the Proms]] and in other concerts.  The choir has also released a number of commercial CDs.
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 The BBC Singers sang the Libera Me from Verdi's Requiem at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.
-The current chief director of the choir is [[David Hill (choral director)|David Hill]].
+The current Chief Conductor of the choir is [[David Hill (choral director)|David Hill]].
-== History ==
-===== 1920s =====
-: Stanford Robinson is engaged by the BBC as its first Chorus Master, based at the Savoy Hill studios in London.
-He recruits a choir of professional singers who make their debut - as the Wireless Chorus - in a broadcast of Rutland Boughton's The Immortal Hour on 2 October. Frequent broadcasts follow, and conductors who work with the group in the next few years include Elgar, Stravinsky, Schoenberg - and the young John Barbirolli.
-: The Sunday night Epilogue begins and soon becomes a popular fixture in the broadcasting schedule.
-: The Wireless Singers are established - a full-time octet of singers from the Wireless Chorus.
-: The Daily Service begins.
-===== 1930s =====
-: The Wireless Singers make their first record, and appear at the Proms.
-: The Wireless Singers perform at the International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Oxford - the first time it has been held in Britain.
-: Cyril Dalmaine is appointed Chorus Master and reorganises the BBC choral groups. The BBC moves to its new home - Broadcasting House in Portland Place.
-: Leslie Woodgate becomes Chorus Master - a post he will hold for over twenty-five years.
-Peter Pears is recruited to the tenor section. The group premieres Benjamin Britten's A Boy was Born to great acclaim.
-: After the first performance of Webern's cantata Das Augenlicht, at the ISCM festival in London, a critic describes the group as "probably unrivalled in Europe".
-: At the outbreak of war, the BBC's musicians are evacuated to Bristol.
-===== 1940s =====
-: 14-hour days are not unusual as the Wireless Singers make programmes for the BBC's home, overseas, and forces services.
-: Severe bombing in Bristol forces another move - this time to Bangor and Bedford.
-: The Singers perform at the famous National Gallery concerts in London.
-: Francis Poulenc's wartime cantata Figure Humaine is premiered in a live broadcast from the Concert Hall of Broadcasting House.
-: Launch of the Third Programme, the BBC's new and influential radio arts channel.
-: Foreign touring begins, with trips to Denmark and the Netherlands. Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts the group, as - in the next few years - do Herbert von Karajan and Bruno Walter.
-===== 1950s =====
-: The BBC Singers tour Italy for the first time and give UK premieres of major works by Frank Martin, Darius Milhaud and Paul Hindemith.
-: George Enescu conducts Bach's Mass in B
-: Thomas Beecham records the Mozart Requiem. Premieres of works by Gerald Finzi and Karol Szymanowski.
-: To mark its tenth anniversary, the Third Programme commissions for the Singers a new work from Anthony Milner The Harrowing of Hell- the BBC's first commission for unaccompanied choir.
-: Stravinsky conducts his opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex.
-===== 1960s =====
-: Leslie Woodgate dies and is succeeded as Chorus Director by Peter Gellhorn. The group is re-formed, and renamed the BBC Chorus.
-: Broadcasts of the Daily Service are moved from the Broadcasting House studio to All Souls', Langham Place, next door.
-: Pierre Boulez conducts the BBC Chorus for the first time - beginning an association which lasts to the present day. The group gives premieres of music by Boulez, Arthur Bliss and Roberto Gerhard.
-: The BBC Chorus give the world premiere of Michael Tippett's The Vision of St Augustine.
-: Otto Klemperer performs and records Bach's Mass in B minor.
-===== 1970s =====
-: The BBC Chorus give the UK premiere of Ligeti's Requiem.
-: John Poole is appointed Chorus Director and re-forms the BBC Chorus - which is given the name by which it is still known today: BBC Singers.
-: In Haarlem, the BBC Singers give the world premiere of John Tavener's Ultimos Ritos.
-: First appearances by the Singers at the Flanders and Edinburgh Festivals, and the world premiere of Westerlings - Peter Maxwell Davies' masterly work for unaccompanied choir.
-: The weekly Sunday evening Epilogue ends after 53 years.
-===== 1980s =====
-: The BBC Singers give the world premiere of Giles Swayne's epic work CRY: composed for 28 solo voices and electronics it is one of the most substantial and virtuosic 20th-century choral works.
-: The BBC Singers tour Hungary, and give the UK premiere of Michael Tippett's The Mask of Time.
-: UK premiere of The Desert Music by Steve Reich, and the world premiere of Orpheus behind the Wire by Hans Werner Henze.
-: The BBC Singers tour Germany, and - in residence at the Lyon Conservatoire - give masterclasses for conductors and composers.
-: Simon Joly becomes Conductor of the BBC Singers; John Poole is made Chief Guest Conductor.
-===== 1990s =====
-: The BBC Singers give the world premiere of Magnus Lindberg's untitled - previously thought to be unperformable due to its extreme technical difficulty.
-: Bo Holten is appointed Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and begins a radical transformation of the group's interpretation of early music.
-: Concerts in Seville for Expo 92, and in Brussels (the world premiere of La melancholia by Pascal Dusapin).
-: The BBC's Religious Broadcasting Department moves to Manchester; the BBC Singers take part in their last Daily Service on 30 March. They perform in Brussels, Vienna and Berlin, and their 70th anniversary is marked by a whole evening's broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. New works are commissioned for the anniversary season from Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis and many other composers.
-: The anniversary commissions continue and include Love Songs in Age - a substantial work by the jazz musician Barbara Thompson. The Singers appear at the Cheltenham Festival and at the new Cité de la Musique in Paris. Simon Joly is succeeded as Chief Conductor by Stephen Cleobury - the first professional church musician to hold the post.
-: On September 6 the BBC Singers take part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, performing to an estimated global audience of 2.5 billion.
-: The 75th anniversary of the BBC Singers is marked by a nationwide tour - fourteen concerts in seven English cities - and eight newly-commissioned works including Giles Swayne's Havoc - the sequel to CRY, his BBC commission of 1980. A profile in The Times describes the BBC Singers as "wonderful beyond belief".
-===== 2000s =====
-: The Singers take part in the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Schnittke weekend. They perform Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, with Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and give performances of Pierre Boulez' Le visage nuptial at the Proms, the Edinburgh Festival and in Brussels and Strasbourg, conducted by the composer.
-: Edward Cowie becomes the group's first Associate Composer. They perform Britten's War Requiem conducted by Mstislav Rostropov.
-: They give the premiere of Edward Cowie's Gaia.
-: The BBC Singers' recording of Britten's Death in Venice, with Philip Langridge, the City of London Sinfonia and Richard Hickox wins a Gramophone award. They take part in the 70th Birthday celebrations for Sir Harrison Birtwistle, performing motets from his 1998 opera, The Last Supper in a concert at Westminster Abbey.
-: Judith Bingham becomes the group's second Associate Composer. The group play a prominent role in the BBC Symphony Orchestra's James MacMillan Composer Weekend and go on tour to Japan, performing in Kyoto, Kamakura and Tokyo.
-: David Hill takes over from Stephen Cleobury as the BBC Singers' Chief Conductor. Stephen Cleobury becomes the group's Conductor Laureate. They give the UK premiere of Francis Grier's The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth in King's Chapel, Cambridge, with Endymion and the choristers of King's College Choir and go on tour to Mexico with Odaline de la Martinez.
-: They release two critically acclaimed CD's for Signum Classics - Choral Images: choral music by Sir Michael Tippett and Man I Sing: choral music by Bob Chilcott.
-: They release Remoter Worlds, a CD of choral music by Judith Bingham, reviewed as "precise, passionate and powerful" by the Sunday Times. They join contemporary music ensemble Psappha to perform music by Claude Vivier which is filmed for the web. They perform at the 61st Aldeburgh Festival - their concert from Blythburgh Church is also webcast. They go on tour to Hungary.
-: They take part in the BBC Symphony Orchestra's concert staging of Martinu's Juliette which is nominated for an RPS Music Awards.
-: Gabriel Jackson becomes the group's Associate Composer.
 == Conductors ==

v t e BBC Orchestras and Singers
Current	BBC Concert Orchestra BBC Philharmonic BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra BBC National Orchestra of Wales BBC Big Band BBC Singers BBC Symphony Chorus
Disbanded	BBC Radio Orchestra BBC Television Orchestra BBC Midlands Radio Orchestra BBC Northern Dance Orchestra BBC Revue Orchestra BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra BBC Variety Orchestra BBC Dance Orchestra BBC Chorus

Revision as of 10:44, 26 August 2010

Conductors

Associate Composers

Recordings

See Also

References