Brighton Festival Chorus

Formation and Early Years (1968-1979)

BFC was formed by the Hungarian-born conductor Laszlo Heltay for the 1968 Brighton Festival specifically for a performance of Sir William Walton's large-scale cantata Belshazzar's Feast, conducted by the composer with the RPO at the Brighton Dome. The performance was a huge success and launched Brighton Festival Chorus as an important part of the music scene in Britain and, under Laszlo Heltay's directorship, one of the most successful choirs in the country, as well as becoming a "symbol of the festival". In the same year the chorus performed Mozart's Kyrie in D Minor (conducted by Sir Colin Davis with the BBCSO) and Kodály's Budavari Te Deum (conducted by Laszlo Heltay with the BPO).

Building on this success, BFC performed three more concerts in Brighton in 1969, and in 1970 made its first recording: Kodály's Psalmus Hungaricus with the LSO conducted by István Kertész.

In 1972, BFC performed its first concerts outside Brighton, when it took part (as the English Bach Festival Chorus) in a series of concerts for the English Bach Festival (EBF). The first of these concerts, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms with the LSO conducted by Leonard Bernstein, marked BFC's first performance at the Royal Albert Hall. This work was recorded, with the same forces, 2 days later at Abbey Road Studios. Three more concerts were performed by BFC for the EBF that year in Oxford and London.

The following year saw a marked upturn in the number of BFC's engagements to perform, with 4 concerts in Brighton and Hove, 2 concerts in London, a recording of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass and the chorus's first concert abroad: Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon, Portugal.

In 1975, BFC's recording of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass with the RPO under Rudolf Kempe was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Classical Performance - Choral" category.

In 1976 the chorus began a long association with the conductor Antal Doráti, under whose baton the chorus performed in 18 concerts, mostly in the Royal Festival Hall, and made 5 recordings.

The 1980s

The 1980s saw a marked upturn in BFC's concert and recording schedule. Overall, the decade saw BFC perform in 139 concerts (24 in 1988 alone - BFC's busiest year to date) and make 8 recordings.

During the 1984 Brighton Festival, BFC performed the British premier of Penderecki's Te Deum, conducted by the composer, the performance being considered the musical high point of the Festival.

In 1985, BFC began a series of engagements with the RPO under André Previn, including two performances of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé in that year; a performance and recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and two performances and a recording of Tippett's A Child of Our Time in 1986; two further performances of Daphnis et Chloé in 1987; Brahms's German Requiem in 1988; and Beethoven's 9th Symphony in 1989. A recording of Tippet’s A Child of Our Time with the RPO under André Previn saw BFC receive its 2nd Grammy nomination in the "Best Choral Performance" category

In 1986, BFC performed for the first time at the BBC Proms, performing Walton's Belshazzar's Feast with the RPO under Vernon Handley. The following year, BFC took part in two promenade concerts, performing Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain under Pierre Boulez and Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé with the RPO under André Previn.

As well as an increase overall in concert and recording engagements, the decade also saw a significant increase in demand for BFC's services from overseas. The chorus undertook tours of Greece (1981), France (1985 and 1987), Spain (1988) The Netherlands (1988) and Belgium (1988) during the decade.

The 1990s

BFC continued to be in demand with major orchestras in the UK and Europe during the 1990s, working under the baton of such conductors as Yehudi Menuhin (who became honorary President of the Chorus), Vladimir Ashkenazy, Richard Hickox and Mark Elder, who became honorary President of the Chorus following the death of Yehudi Menuhin in 1999.

BFC performed in 5 BBC Proms concerts during the 1990s:

The decade also saw the Chorus perform in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

In 1992 the Chorus performed for the first time at Leeds Castle under Carl Davis. This became an annual summer engagement for the Chorus which continued until 2007.

In 1996, Laszlo Heltay retired as Music Director of the Chorus. He was succeeded by his deputy, Jonathan Grieves-Smith and then, upon the latter's departure to Australia, by James Morgan, who holds the position of Music Director to the present day. Laszlo Heltay currently holds the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus of BFC

Recent Years

The Chorus continues to be much in demand, and still performs regularly in Brighton, London and further afield.

In 2005, BFC took part in the world premier of the concert version of Tavener's The Veil of the Temple at the BBC Proms, and in 2011 BFC joined forces with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and 9 other choirs for a BBC Proms performance of Havergal Brian's monumental Symphony No. 1 "The Gothic" under the baton of Martyn Brabbins.

In response to the downturn in the market for live choral music following the 2007/8 financial crisis, the Chorus began to develop its own series of small- and large-scale concerts in the Brighton and Hove area, putting on and promoting concerts with works ranging from Rachmaninov's Vespers to semi-staged performances of Bach's St John Passion.

Since 2009, BFC has been a regular participant in the "BBC Big Sing" from the Royal Albert Hall, at which special editions of the BBC's Songs of Praise programme are recorded.

In 2011 BFC joined Orchestre de Picardie and 11 other partners from across southern England and northern France to take part in "ACT - A Common Territory". This programme of events, supported financially by the European Regional Development Fund as part of its Interreg programme, ran from 2011-2015, and saw the Chorus join forces with the Orchestre de Picardie, Orchestre de Bretagne and soloists from the Royal Opera's Jette Parker Young Artists Programme under the direction of Arie van Beek to perform Verdi's Requiem in Amiens, Compiègne and Rennes in December 2013. Also as part of the ACT Network, BFC performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Rouen in January 2014. Two further ACT Network performances of Verdi's Requiem followed in July 2014, when BFC was joined by the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus in Purfleet, Essex.

BFC's 500th concert performance, on Good Friday 2015, was a semi-staged "in the round" performance of Bach's St. John Passion at the Brighton Dome, with the Chorus singing the whole work from memory.

In 2015, as part of the celebrations to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, BFC commissioned a work from Morgan Pochin on the theme of Liberty. The resulting work "Invictus - Cantata for Liberty" for orchestra, adult choir, youth choir and narrators was premiered at the Brighton Dome in June, and saw BFC join forces with the City of London Sinfonia, Brighton Festival Youth Choir and the Brighton and Hove Community Youth Choir, conducted by James Morgan.

Brighton Festival Youth Choir

In 2002, BFC formed the Brighton Festival Youth Choir (BFYC) in order to give local schoolchildren the chance to perform choral music to a high standard. BFYC's first Music Director was Juliette Pochin and their first performance was a live performance on BBC Radio 3, and since then the choir has been in great demand. It has worked with acclaimed ensembles such as the RPO, LPO and Brodsky Quartet under such conductors as Richard Hickox, Jacques Mercier and James Morgan.

Originally run and managed by the BFC, BFYC is now an independent choir and a separate registered charity, although it continues to receive both financial support and concert engagements from BFC.

In January 2016, James Bingham will take over from Esther Jones as the new Music Director of BFYC.

Repertoire

BFC's repertoire includes all of the major choral works from the 18th to the 21st century. Notable works performed by the Chorus have included:

Recordings

The chorus has made many recordings including Grammy-nominated performances of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. BFC's recording of Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien with Jacques Mercier and Orchestre national d'Île-de-France was awarded "Le Choc" by the French magazine Le Monde de la musique.

In addition to its recordings of the traditional choral repertoire, BFC has recorded backing tracks for a number of popular recording artists. BFC provided choral backing on Alfie Boe's platinum-certified album Bring Him Home, Joe McElderry's gold-certified albums Classic and Classic Christmas and Collabro's silver-certified album Act Two.

50th Anniversary

BFC will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its formation in 2018. Plans are underway for the commissioning of a work in celebration of this event.

Organisation and Governance

BFC is a charity registered in England (charity number 283743), and is governed by a committee of Trustees elected by the members of the Chorus. The trustees are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Chorus. The Music Director, while not a Trustee of the Chorus, is regularly consulted on and informed of the Trustees' decisions, and has the final say in all matters relating to the musical direction of the Chorus.

The Chorus is currently going through the process of converting to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.