Welcome to Barts Choir
Our aim is to welcome anyone who is interested in learning about singing classical choral music, participating in our community and performing with us.
We rehearse for three terms each year and each term ends with performances on the prestigious stages such as the Royal Festival Hall and Cadogan Hall singing with professional orchestras and soloists including the Philharmonia Orchestra. We also support smaller projects, such as charity carol concerts and providing a choir for the Barts Health Annual Remembrance Service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
We also provide choral development for members who would like to sing more challenging works in a smaller ensemble via our auditioned Chamber Choir.
Please explore our website to find out more.
Our History
The choir was originally formed by a group of nurses at St Bartholomew’s Hospital conducted by Robert Anderson. The first performance, of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, took place at the hospital in June 1965.
Since being founded as a small group of singers, within a few years we grew considerably larger, giving performances in prestigious venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Southwark Cathedral and Westminster City Hall.
Barts Choir has continued to develop and is now an established part of the world of amateur choral singing in London. The choir maintains a strong link with Barts Hospital, one of the world’s oldest working hospitals celebrating its 900th anniversary in 2023, and Barts Health NHS Trust, one of the UK’s largest NHS Trusts.
Each year we partner with a health-related charity, giving them support through publicity and by fund-raising.
We are currently partnering with Barts Charity for some of our events, integrating our efforts to support an important charity, driving life changing improvements for the people of East London. In 2023 Barts Hospital – the hospital in which we were founded – celebrated its 900th anniversary.
1965 First performance of Handel’s Messiah at St Bartholomew the Great.
1973 A concert at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 850th anniversary of the founding of St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
1975 Barts Choir’s first performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
1982 Choir tour to Egypt with a performance of Alexander’s Feast in the Ambassador’s garden, Cairo.
1985 A performances of Verdi’s Requiem in Amsterdam.
1987 A performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Köln.
1990 Mozart Mass in C Minor in Denmark.
2000 Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ at the Royal Albert Hall.
2016 Accompanied Boy George for Channel 4 programme Stand Up to Cancer.
2018 Contributed a small number of NHS staff’s voices to a BBC Radio project entitled ‘NHS Symphony’, which was recently honoured with 2 radio awards.
2012 Performed in the Olympic stadium at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.
2019 A group of Barts members participated in the project ‘Sing for Shelter’ which raised funds for the charity, Shelter
2020 We brought about virtual recordings in support of Barts Charity and Single Homeless Project. See our YouTube channel.
2023 A special concert at the Royal Albert Hall to honour the 900th anniversary of Barts Hospital
