Join the choir

Looking to join a choir with a difference?

Birmingham Bach Choir is a large chamber choir singing a glorious variety of music, from large works with orchestra to intimate a cappella songs and motets, and everything in between, from the earliest to the most recent – do look at our repertoire lists. Click here to whet your appetite! We are an amateur choir which aspires to professional standards, with all that this demands for both rehearsals and concerts, and relish the challenges involved. If this fits the bill for you, read on – so much glorious music to enjoy!

Following a wonderful 2025, which included Bach’s B minor Mass in Lichfield Cathedral (soloists including Roddy Williams and Sophie Bevan), delicious French music in Malvern, and concluded in November with Rutter and Kodaly to a packed St Francis Church in Bournville, 2026 has begun with a programme of yearning seasonal music. We are preparing works by Tallis, Gesualdo, Byrd, Gibbons, Phinot and Lotti, to be sung in March in the atmospheric surroundings of St Chad’s Cathedral, with readings by His Grace Archbishop Bernard Longley. Starting the year, however, we have already enjoyed – with lots of guests! – a terrific afternoon of Come and Sing, tackling Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise (Lobgesang), and sustained by the choir’s legendary home made cakes… Summer will bring a complete contrast – a sunny and light-hearted feast of Shakespeare-related music including Shearing’s jazzy Songs and Sonnets, alongside much loved songs by Vaughan Williams and others, which we will sing in lovely Bridgnorth.... In the autumn, we return to Bournville, with Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, alongside Parry’s evocative Songs of Farewell, and then begin 2027 with Mozart’s Mass in C minor (in the Levin completion) at Lichfield Cathedral… So much fabulous music coming up!

…and if singing fabulous choral music is your sort of thing, why not come and start singing with us? We are well into preparation of our current programme, but will start rehearsals for our summer programme on Wednesday 15th April, when we begin work on our Shakespearean repertoire, and will be welcoming new members. We rehearse from 7.15 – 9.30pm, in central Cotteridge, with onsite parking and easy access to trains and buses. If you’re not sure it’s for you, come along anyway for a week or two when rehearsals begin, to see what goes on: music will be provided! Seeing and hearing first hand is the best way to find out, after all…

Belonging to the choir isn’t just about singing, of course. Friendships are made through our shared music, and there are also many other opportunities to be involved in the life of the choir, in ways great and small, out front and behind the scenes, and whether or not you’re an old hand or a newcomer, so new members can be sure of a warm welcome.

There is much more information about being a member of the choir in our Essential Information sheet (see below) - important reading, if you’re thinking of joining. If you like what you see and hear, you can audition after a few weeks (probably 29th April or 13th May) – singers in all parts are welcome, and at present particularly altos.

So, if you’d like to sample a feast of choral music with us this summer, get in touch! Just email the Choir Secretary at info@birmingham.bachchoir.com to make arrangements, ask any questions, and make sure you have all the details you might need. Please make sure that mention your voice part (and whether first or second) and a little about your past choral experience – don’t delay!

We offer special subscription rates for full time students and singers aged 25 and under – see our Essential Information sheet for details. There are also plenty of other ways to contribute.
You can download our Essential Information sheet Here and our Audition Guidance Here

This is the feedback we received from one recent first-time visitor:

"I thought you might like to hear my reaction to the rehearsal I attended earlier this week. In a word, brilliant! It was so refreshing to see the whole choir listen and respond to the conductor throughout the rehearsal. I would like to apply for an audition".