ENSEMBLES

Birmingham Symphonic Brass is a select student brass dectet that offers players the opportunity to perform core repertoire with organ as part of the University degree ceremonies and other high-profile events at the University. Directed by leading composer and conductor, Stephen Roberts, the ensemble perform regularly at concerts and events in the city, and recently played for the installation ceremony to formally welcome the University’s new Chancellor.

To book the group for performances or external events, please contact the University Music and Concerts Team.

BUS is a mixed chamber choir of up to 45 auditioned singers directed by Bob Chilcott. Since its inception, the choir has gained a national reputation as one of the finest university choirs in the UK.

Rehearsing weekly and performing a wide and varied repertoire, the choir usually gives two concerts per year in the Elgar Concert Hall, plus a performance in Symphony Hall, Birmingham as part of University of Birmingham Voices. Their annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at St Michael’s, Tenbury, is a highlight of the academic year.

In recent years BUS has sung in Tewkesbury Abbey, Worcester, Gloucester, Oxford Cathedral’s, Clare College (Cambridge), the Royal Albert Hall, and Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. Over the years BUS have had the opportunity to work with professional vocal ensembles, such as The Sixteen, Binchois Consort, Tenebrae, and Voces8. The choir has also developed a noted international reputation, having given concerts in Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland.

BUS has appeared under the baton of many distinguished guest conductors including Simon Carrington, Simon Halsey, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and Sakari Oramo. Recent collaborations have included performances with Jeffrey Douma and Yale Glee Club, Nigel Short and Tenebrae, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

If you are interested in early music and would like to study on a period instrument or take vocal lessons with one of our specialist teachers, then you can join the activities of the Collective for Early Music Performance and Research. With a focus on period performance practice, CEMPR co-ordinates a number of ensembles (for Undergraduate and Postgraduate students) who receive coaching from some of the leading professional in the field, and give concerts in The Bramall and The Barber Institute of Fine Arts. CEMPR also includes the specially allocated ensemble, Baroque-Classical Orchestra.

Folk Band is University Music’s newest group and is open to all musicians interested in folk music at the University. They meet weekly to rehearse with session leader Paloma Trigas, and work on folk tunes from across the globe. The band is open to any student on campus, regardless of instrument, and there is no requirement for any previous experience playing folk music.

The ensemble perform yearly at the Summer Festival of Music in June, as well as at venues across the city.

The hand-picked New Music Ensemble is the university contemporary music group. Directed by Director of Orchestral Studies, Daniele Rosina, the ensemble explore new works by student and staff composers, as well as commissioning new music by renowned composers working across the UK. In past years, NME have performed works by composers including Steve Reich, Boulez, Berio, and Dallapiccola, and recently contributed to the University commemoration of the Armistice with a presentation of Messiaen’s Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.

New Music Ensemble are a regular feature at the Department of Music’s CrossCurrents music festival.

University Camerata is specially selected choir of up to 45 voices, created to work with the MA Choral Conducting students under the supervision of Professor Simon Halsey and University Chorus Director, Julian Wilkins. They rehearse once a week, focusing particularly on singing and conducting technique. Working with up to four student postgraduate conductors each year, University Camerata offers vocal students a platform to explore a large variety of a cappella choral repertoire.

University Staff Singers offers members of staff at the University the opportunity to get involved in music-making in their lunch break. With no requirement for prior experience, or the ability to read music, the choir is a fun opportunity for all staff to give singing a try under the training of the MA Choral Conducting students from the Music Department. The choir rehearses on Thursday afternoons in term time in the University Music Hub.

University Upper Voices was founded in 2013 to accommodate and nurture the wealth of strong upper voices at the University. In their first year they quickly made a name for themselves, placing 1st position in the Female Choirs Competition and securing a place in the Choir of the World final at the International Music Eisteddfod.

Conducted by Jack Apperley, University Upper Voices have performed in the Elgar Concert Hall, Symphony Hall, Worcester Cathedral, and the Royal Albert Hall. In 2015 they worked with Juice Vocal Ensemble on a programme of contemporary women’s repertoire, including compositions by Daria Kwiatowska. In recent years they have focussed on celebrating historic and contemporary women composers, including Elizabeth Poston, Cecilia McDowall, Janet Wheeler, Sarah Quartel, and Eva Ugalde.

UUV has appeared under the baton of many distinguished conductors, including Patrick Barrett, Simon Carrington, and Simon Halsey. Recent projects have included commissioning new music by Paul Mealor and Cheryl Frances-Hoad, and a premiere performance of the complete set of new choral works, written especially for upper voices, published by Oxford University Press.

University Vocal Consort is hand-picked choir of up to 20 voices, created each year to work with final year undergraduate conducting students. They rehearse once a week, focusing on recital repertoire, with occasional supervision from professional academic staff. The choir gives committed and experienced choral singers the opportunity to sing challenging repertoire in an a cappella small group setting.

University of Birmingham Voices rehearse in the Spring for an annual performance alongside the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall. This symphonic choir is a chorus of approximately 120 students, including singers from Birmingham University Singers, University Upper Voices, University Camerata, and University Vocal Consort. Performances to date have included an Opera Choruses Gala (2015), a revue show of the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein (2016), and a critically acclaimed concert production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard (2017). The choir enjoy a strong relationship with the CBSO Chorus, and in recent years have collaborated with the choir in massed performances of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with John Wilson (2019), and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”) with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (2020). Most recently, the choir performed and recorded Stanford’s Requiem with the orchestra and Martyn Brabbins for Hyperion, marking 125 years since its commission by the Birmingham Triennial Festival.

University of Birmingham Voices remain in high demand and – alongside other vocal ensembles at the university – have returned to perform at the BBC Proms on a number of occasions. Highlights include three performances of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Simon Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic in Birmingham, London, and Lucerne, as well as a performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Marin Alsop at the penultimate night of the festival in 2016. In 2017, the choir opened the Proms season with BBC Proms Youth Choir and Edward Gardner in a live televised performance of John Adams’s Harmonium.