16 December
Selly Oak Methodist Church
Saturday
Our Choir
We are people who love to sing, and we come from all walks of life.
Birmingham Choral Union has been singing in the City since the 1880s, performing with professional orchestras and soloists in wonderful venues, including Symphony Hall, Town Hall and The Elgar Hall. For larger performances we sometimes collaborate with other local choirs.
We enjoy the challenge of singing a range of choral music, under the musical guidance of our charismatic conductor Colin Baines who has been with us since 1981. We sing sacred and secular pieces in different languages and from different musical traditions. Each Christmas we love singing in a lively family concert at Selly Oak Methodist Church, with a mix of traditional and popular carols and seasonal songs.
We are now bouncing back after two difficult pandemic years, when we continued to meet and rehearse on Zoom and made some fabulous recordings – see our YouTube channel. We’re now rehearsing for our forthcoming concerts in April and June 2023, and we have more exciting music and collaborations planned.
In 2024, in collaboration with Persona Arts we are planning a production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, with open workshops in Small Heath.
We are actively recruiting new singers and we’d love to hear from you think you’d like to sing with our friendly choir!
23 March
St Paul's Church
Saturday
No event found!
16 December
Selly Oak Methodist Church
Saturday
23 March
St Paul's Church
Saturday
No event found!
16 December
Selly Oak Methodist Church
Saturday
23 March
St Paul's Church
Saturday
No event found!
Birmingham Choral Union In Action
Despite COVID 19 the choir have continued to sing and support one another. Our last concert was Christmas 2019, but we have managed to make some recordings from home, which you’ll find on our YouTube channel. We are very grateful for the skilled support of our sound and video editors and musicians. You can find out more about them using the buttons below.
Our Rehearsals
We rehearse every Monday evening at the Unitarian Church in Ryland Street during term time. There is free parking and the building is single storey with no steps. Members come from a wide area and some share lifts to choir.
If you’d like more information about access and transport please email us.
The evening starts at 6.45pm with a gentle warm-up and vocal exercises. We learn each piece with piano accompaniment from Darren Hogg. We have a short break for choir notices and refreshments (sometimes with cake!) and regular fundraising sales and events. We finish promptly at 8.45pm.
We always welcome new singers of all voices and it’s easy to join, with affordable membership fees. You’ll find us friendly and supportive.
Join Us
Enjoy singing? Fancy a challenge?
Come and join the friendly choir!
Singing in harmony with others is a great feeling, and when you add professional players and singers into the mix it’s wonderful. Singing is good for your physical and mental health, and with us it’s fun and sociable. You are welcome to come along for a rehearsal to see how you like it, and if you’d like to join the choir you’ll need to pass an informal audition with the Musical Director. It helps if you can read music and have sung in a choir before, even if it was some time ago.