Latest news

Jazz, Spectaculars and Glorious Handel!

30th September 2019, by Mark Lawrence

What a fine and varied music autumn the City of Birmingham Choir’s CONCERTS are presenting this year!

Our tradition of SPECTACULAR CLASSICS returns for two performances of much-loved music on Saturday 9th November in Symphony Hall.

Sunday November 17th sees our jazzy afternoon at the wonderful Elgar Concert Hall featuring the highly popular MASS IN BLUE by Will Todd as well as the new FREEDOM! by Alexander and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange (who will be performing with us).

Symphony Hall is also the setting for our annual and wonderful HANDEL’S MESSIAH, also featuring our orchestral friends, the CBSO. Be there for your baroque treat on Friday 4th December.

A CHRISTMAS CRACKER is our Christmas concert with guest presenter ALED JONES on Saturday afternoon, 21st December. Our final Symphony Hall concert of 2019 will be BEETHOVEN’S NINTH, in conjunction with our friends in Birmingham Choral Union.

Visit or CONCERTS page to see more and to book online.

Autumn Tickets now on Sale

18th July 2019, by Mark Lawrence

We are delighted that all our autumn 2019 concert tickets are now on sale. Our own wonderful concerts include the renowned, uplifting, jazzy Mass in Blue by Will Todd, paired with the new cantata Freedom! by Alexander and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange. Then we welcome you to Handel’s Messiah with the CBSO – which we are the experts at performing. We have a track record of nearly 100 years of performances of this masterpiece, yet always keeping our concert fresh and vivacious.

Head to our CONCERTS pages for more details and how to book tickets.

We are also pleased to perform in Spectacular Classics, Christmas Cracker and Beethoven’s Ninth.

If you fancy joining the choir, come along to our rehearsal on Tuesday 3rd September and find out more.

Have a lovely summer!

14th May 2019, by Mark Lawrence


Visiting the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, we partnered with London Philharmonic Choir, the outstanding Philharmonia Orchestra, superb soloists and conductor Andrew Nethsingha. We were blown away by Federico Colli’s performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto and then, according to audience members, gave a performance of Carmina Burana worthy of a standing ovation.
Now we have a rest until our first rehearsal on Tuesday 3rd September. Have a lovely summer!

Royal Festival Hall, here we come!

6th May 2019, by Mark Lawrence


We are delighted to be singing in the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 10th May, along with distinguished partners the London Philharmonic Choir, Trinity Boys Choir and the wonderful Philharmonia, all under the baton of our good friend Andrew Nethsingha.
We had a great rehearsal with Andrew last week and are looking forward to the concert.
There are a few tickets left for Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto.

After ‘Ruht wohl’ comes ‘O fortuna’!

7th April 2019, by Mark Lawrence

Thank you to our wonderful audience at Tewkesbury Abbey on Saturday evening for supporting our marvellous concert of Bach’s St John Passion. Our efforts at mastering the German text and singing with lightness of touch were put to good effect with the splendid players of the Westminster Chamber Orchestra along with organ, cello and theorbo continuo and guest viola da gamba player.  Our team of soloists, led by Bradley Smith as a most impressive high tenor evangelist, were absolutely first rate. Well done to our musical director, Adrian Lucas, for bringing together all these performers in such a successful way.

Now in a quick turnaround, we focus our attention on our forthcoming visit to the Royal Festival Hall for Carl Orff’s ever -popular Carmina Burana on Friday 10th May. We hope to see you there.

Bach’s St John Passion

13th January 2019, by Mark Lawrence

Tickets are on sale for Bach’s marvellous St John Passion, which we will perform in Tewkesbury Abbey on Saturday 6th April.

Adrian Lucas

Our Musical Director, Adrian Lucas, writes:
‘The elegant sophistication of Bach’s music reached its peak in his two great settings of the passion – the story of Christ’s betrayal, imprisonment and crucifixion. While the St Matthew Passion is of truly massive scale in terms of resources and sheer length, the St John Passion is more modest in its conception, yet it contains some of the most beautiful and lyrical moments of his entire output. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the Choir!

4th January 2019, by Mark Lawrence

We would like to wish you a happy New Year!

Our rehearsals for JS Bach’s marvellous St John Passion, sung in German, commence on Tuesday 8th January with a Welcome Rehearsal and we would be delighted to see you there if you think you might wish to join the choir. We look forward to our concert in Tewkesbury Abbey on Saturday 6th April.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

22nd December 2018, by Mark Lawrence

Having completed all our concerts in 2018 with a Christmas Classics flourish, we are taking a short break until January. Then we will start rehearsals for J S Bach’s   St John Passion. Our first rehearsal is on Tuesday 8th January at 6.30 pm.

Meanwhile, we would like to wish you a peaceful and musical Christmas and a prosperous new year.   Thank you for your support and interest during 2018, and we hope  you will continue during 2019.

Christmas Classics with the City Choir

8th December 2018, by Mark Lawrence

Herald the Christmas season with a wonderful concert of seasonal classics and glorious carols from the London Concert Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Choir. Following on from our recent tremendous performances of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and Handel’s Messiah, we turn our voices to a delightful selection of traditional Christmas favourites and some newer arrangements and compositions in a seasonal mix of sacred and secular. Christmas Classics is at Symphony Hall on Friday 21st December at 7.30 pm. You can order your tickets online or call 0121 780 3333 or visit the Box Office in person.

Hallelujah! Buy your ticket soon!

25th November 2018, by Mark Lawrence


Our wonderful performance of Handel’s Messiah is selling well – buy your tickets soon. We perform the favourite work – we are absolutely the experts – on Friday 7th December at 7 pm in the acoustic perfection that is Symphony Hall. A great team of soloists, our wonderful friends the CBSO and ourselves, the City of Birmingham Choir – all conducted by Adrian Lucas.

For unto us a child is born; Lift up your heads O ye gates; The trumpet shall sound; Worthy is the Lamb and, of course, the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. All unmissable. So don’t miss it – book tickets NOW.