A brief history and description of the Chorus

The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus was founded as the Bournemouth Municipal Choir in 1911 by Sir Dan Godfrey to perform the great choral works with his Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra. For many years, the Chorus sang almost exclusively in Bournemouth, but in 1979 it became the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, working under the aegis of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

After this, there was a considerable expansion in the range of works performed. It undertook a number of concerts in the main music venues in London, and in many venues throughout the country, from Truro to Manchester, and Eastbourne to Cardiff. It has made numerous recordings for major companies, and undertaken broadcasts on radio and television. The Chorus has also toured abroad, to Switzerland, Florida, Israel, Italy, Belgium and France.

The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus has a membership of around 140 singers, and gives the majority of its concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. But it has also been engaged to sing with other orchestras, including the National Youth Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Wales and the Academy of London.

Conductors with whom it has appeared include Marin Alsop, Yakov Kreizberg, Richard Hickox, Tamas Vasary, Andrew Litton, Mark Elder, Wayne Marshall, Kees Bakels, Jiri Kout, David Hill, Richard Armstrong, Paul Daniel and Grant Llewellyn. It also gives regular concerts independently, either a capella or with organ or ensembles.

The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus achieved both national and international recognition with the Gramophone Choral Award for its recording of Delius's Sea Drift, Songs of Farewell and Songs of Sunset,and won a Grammy Award in February 1997 for its recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, made in Winchester Cathedral with the BSO under Andrew Litton. In October 2003, its recording of Bernstein's Chichester Psalms was the "Gramophone" Editor's Choice for the month. In 2007 its new recording of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana under Marin Alsop was Classic FM’s CD of the Month.

Other special concerts and recordings have included David Fanshawe's African Sanctus, also the subject of a film for BBC2, (and now frequently repeated on SkyArts), Orff's Carmina Burana at the Proms, Delius's Mass of Life at St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London Festival, an Elgar Festival at the Barbican with The Apostles and The Kingdom, and a recording for Sony of Mirror of Perfection, conducted by its composer - Richard Blackford, which was also filmed for BBC Television.

Foreign tours are undertaken regularly. In recent years the Chorus has given concerts in Florida, Israel, Italy, Belgium (Flanders Festival) and Paris.