The Chorus

The Philharmonia Chorus was founded by Walter Legge in 1957 to record Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer. It quickly established itself as one of Europe’s premier choirs and has worked with many leading conductors and orchestras, both in the UK and overseas.

Its extensive repertoire encompasses the mainstream choral works and opera, as well as more recent music. Highlights during the past decade have included performances of Verdi’s Requiem with both Valery Gergiev and Riccardo Muti, Rachmaninov’s The Bells with Vladimir Jurowski, Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Charles Mackerras and Lohengrin and Der Freischütz at the Edinburgh Festival.

During the last two years alone the Chorus’s repertory has encompassed the Brahms Requiem, Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony, a series of operas including Der fliegende Holländer and Die Fledermaus, unaccompanied works by Mendelssohn and Arvo Pärt and music for the BBC television series Merlin.

2010 engagements for the Chorus include Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Eliahu Inbal, James MacMillan’s St John Passion, sung on Good Friday in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed in London and on tour in Spain with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Ilan Volkov, also on BBC Radio 3.

The team of Chorus Masters comprises Deborah Miles-Johnson and Madeleine Lovell, with Stefan Bevier as the Chorus's Principal Chorus Master.

The Chorus is a Registered Charity, No. 250495.