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 that fits the bill for you, come and start rehearsing with us when we start a new programme!

After a wonderful season which included Bach’s St Matthew Passion, music by Scarlatti and Liszt as well as Bernstein, Elgar and commissioned works by David Bednall and Paul Spicer, the choir is looking forward to the autumn. The new season starts with ‘The Rainbow Comes and Goes’, a gorgeous programme of English choral music inspired by the natural world, followed in the spring by Bach’s B Minor Mass, which we will sing at Lichfield Cathedral. The season ends with a delicious programme for summer 2025 including Faure’s much-loved Requiem and music by Poulenc, Ravel and Debussy. Irresistible...

Belonging to the choir doesn’t start and end with the music. There are many ways to contribute, great and small, out front and behind the scenes, upon which the choir relies, so there are many other ways in which everyone can be involved, be they new arrivals, or old hands – and if you could play a part, too, great!

If this is your sort of thing, come and start singing with us on Wednesday 4th September, when we begin rehearsals for our autumn programme, 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.
There is plenty more information 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 a few weeks later (probably 25th September) – tenors and basses are especially welcome, as are first sopranos. There’s some room for second altos, too...

Although the choir is not currently looking for second sopranos, anyone who would like to audition with a view to joining, when possible, is welcome to do so.

The audition is short and straightforward, all over and done with before you know it, so don’t be put off by the prospect! If you’re not sure it’s for you, come along anyway at the beginning of our next programme for a week or two to see what goes on: no obligation at all! Seeing and hearing first hand is the best way to find out, after all…

There is more information on auditions below, but please get in touch via info@birmingham.bachchoir.com if you have other questions about membership, and especially if you have any special needs or disability which might be relevant to singing with the choir.

So, if you’d like to sample a feast of choral music with us in September, get in touch! Just email the Choir Secretary at info@birmingham.bachchoir.com to make arrangements, answer 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".