2020 marks the choir’s 25th anniversary; an amazing 25 years of wonderful music making by a small group of dedicated, hard-working, amateur singers.
The choir was originally formed when a group of friends from the CBSO Chorus got together to give a charity performance of the Fauré Requiem with Simon Halsey, the CBSO Chorus Director. The small group enjoyed the experience so much that they decided to continue!
The name, Ex Urbe, is simply translated as “from the city” and logically relates to the fact that the choir is “from the city of Birmingham”. Choir records are silent on who came up with the name!
So what does the choir have in store for 2020? The overall “theme” for our concerts throughout the year will be “inspired by Bach”. Each concert will include music written by J S Bach alongside music written by composers who have been inspired by Bach. The first concert (June 2020) will feature three Bach motets alongside music by Durufle including his Requiem. In September the concert will include Bach’s Magnificat and the Köthener Messe by Jonathan Dove. Finally, our Christmas concert next year will include Cantatas 1 to 3 from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. An exciting year of music with which to celebrate the choir’s 25th anniversary We hope you can join us.
