New choir looks to recruit members from across Birmingham
B:Music, the Birmingham-based music charity responsible for Town Hall and Symphony Hall, has announced a new strand of community vocal activity.
An exciting new choir, B:Music Workplace Voices, will offer the chance for workers from across the city to enjoy the benefits and joy of group singing.
B:Music Workplace Voices is an un-auditioned choir based at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and offers the opportunity for employees across the city to meet weekly and experience the rejuvenating effects of group singing on Tuesday evenings.
The charity has for many years provided opportunities where everybody is invited to make music with the organisation.
It offers a range of performance opportunities, workshops, and creative projects throughout the year for everyone from amateur enthusiasts through to established touring artists.
Originally established in 2013 by choir master Gareth Malone for the second series of the BBC television show The Choir: Sing While you Work, Birmingham City Council Choir became one of the country's best workplace choirs and enjoyed ten successful years, growing its membership and performing to audiences nationwide including for Heads of State and Royalty.
In order to better secure its future and enable further development, the choir is now embarking on a new chapter by joining forces with B:Music.
In this new phase, the successful choir has become a part of B:Music’s broad engagement programme and transitioned into the new B:Music Workplace Voices, which is open to anyone who works in Birmingham.
The choir will be an important part of B:Music’s extensive community and participation programme, with the charity excited to grow the membership and take on even more ambitious performances and projects.
B:Music wants to share the fantastic benefits of group singing with as many members as possible and the choir will connect and perform with other workplace choirs and employees from across the city’s business community.
As coordinators of the city’s workplace voices network, B:Music will support and unite choirs from other organisations including HSBC, PWC, DLA Piper, Aston University, Birmingham Newman University, and Wolverhampton City Council Staff Choir.
Many of these choirs recently performed in a summer concert at Symphony Hall in July.
Rachel Cranny, head of development and Impact at B:Music said: “As a charity, our mission is to inspire a love of live music through performance, participation, and learning.
“We passionately believe in the power of music and especially singing to boost wellbeing and bring people together.
“In addition to growing the membership of our B:Music Workplace Voices and delivering fantastic performances, our wider project aims to showcase and celebrate choirs in companies across the city and inspire more people to sing while they work.”
Choir membership is open to anyone who works in Birmingham or the surrounding areas.
The regular weekly rehearsals for the choir are on Tuesdays from 5.45pm – 7.30pm during term time at Symphony Hall in Birmingham city centre.
Throughout the year the choir will work on a broad range of repertoire, musical styles, and genres.
The repertoire is carefully selected by musical director Ben Hamilton to reflect the choir’s musical strengths and abilities, while at the same time helping the singers to develop their capabilities through more challenging pieces.
Recently the choir has covered everything from classical and traditional choral music to folk, rock, contemporary choral, musical theatre, and more– there really is something for everyone.
To find out more, contact workplacevoices@bmusic.co.uk
