Bournemouth Symphony Chorus

The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus was founded in 1911 by Sir Dan Godfrey as the Bournemouth Municipal Choir to work alongside his orchestra. In 1979 the choir became the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and is now self-managing and self-financing. The choir has commissioned and encouraged hundreds of new compositions and is committed to promoting choral singing with younger people; managing and supporting the Bournemouth Symphony Youth Chorus and Children’s Choir. It has an extensive catalogue of recordings earning numerous awards including a Grammy for Walton’sBelshazzar’s Feast under Andrew Litton, a Gramophone magazine award for Delius’s Sea Drift, Songs of Farewell andSongs of Sunset, Classic FM CD of the month for Orff’s Carmina Burana under Marin Alsop, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice of the Month for Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. In addition to fulfilling its role as choral partners to the BSO, the Chorus works independently, promoting works such as Britten’s War Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony no.8 and the Bach Passions. A regular touring programme has taken it to Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, USA and India. The Chorus has performed three times with the BSO at Classic FM Live Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.