The Philharmonia Chorus is very proud to be taking part in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's 75th Anniversary Concert on Tuesday 21 September at the Royal Albert Hall. The Chorus will join bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel in a performance of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, which will be conducted by the orchestra's Music Director designate, Vasily Petrenko. In the first half of the concert, Sheku Kanneh-Mason will play Elgar's Cello Concerto.

The Philharmonia Chorus has enjoyed a long and close association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, having taken part in over 40 performances with them over the last 20 years alone. Our first concert together was on 28 September 1971, in a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony conducted by Rudolf Kempe that marked the opening of their Silver Jubilee season, so this performance of Belshazzar's Feast marks our 50th anniversary of music making with this wonderful orchestra, almost to the day.

On Saturday 12 June on BBC Radio 3's Record Review, Jeremy Summerly examined all the available recordings of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and selected the Chorus's 1979 EMI recording with Arleen Auger, John van Kesteren, Jonathan Summers and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti as the best. The Chorus Master was Norbert Balatsch.

Mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones has won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021 Audience Prize at the Main Prize Final broadcast live on BBC4 on Saturday 19 June. She previously won Round 4. Claire is a member of the Philharmonia Chorus Professional Singer Scheme, and has appeared regularly in the Chorus since joining in 2011. She was the mezzo-soprano soloist in a performance of Handel's Messiah given by the Philharmonia Chorus in the Palau de la Música in Valencia in December 2015, when all soloists were drawn from the Chorus.

Claire joined Georgian mezzo-soprano Natalia Kutateladze, South Korean baritone Gihoon Kim, South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, and Austrian soprano Christina Ganch in the Main Prize final, which was broadcast live on Saturday 19 June on BBC4 at 19.30.

The whole of Round 4 and the Main Prize final can now be seen on the BBC iPlayer.

Soprano Alexandria Wreggelsworth took part in a streamed performance of opera scenes live from the stage of La Fenice, Venice, at 18.00 on Wednesday 26 May. Alexandria is a member of the Philharmonia Chorus Student Scheme, and has taken part in many performances with the Chorus over the past five years.

Alexandria sang Mimi and Tatyana in scenes from La Bohème and Eugene Onegin respectively. The whole performance is available on You Tube.

It is with great sadness that we have heard of the death of Andrew Greenwood at the age of 66. Andrew was Associate Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus through the 1980s. He prepared the Chorus for stage appearances in Manon Lescaut in the opera house in Montepulciano in 1982, and for performances of Aida and La Gioconda in the Théâtre Antique in Orange in the summer of 1983. He worked regularly with the Chorus in this period, preparing over 80 performances, including Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by Bernard Haitink, William Walton's 80th birthday concert when André Previn conducted Belshazzar's Feast, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Andrew Davis, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Mahler's Second Symphony conducted by Simon Rattle, and Verdi's Messa da Requiem conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. He will be remembered with admiration and great affection by our singers.

His obituary in The Guardian is here.

The Philharmonia Chorus was back in the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday 15 December 2020 with a seasonal performance of Handel's Messiah, and a socially distanced audience. The Chorus was joined by soprano Francesca Chiejina, mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, tenor Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, and bass-baritone Dingle Yandell. The photograph shows the Chorus in the Royal Albert Hall rehearsing with conductor Eduardo Strausser.

The Philharmonia Chorus took part in the culmination of the Orchestre National de Lille's 2019 Mahler cycle with two performances of the mighty Eighth Symphony in the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle, Lille on 20 and 21 November. The Chorus joined sopranos Daniela Köhler, Yitian Luan and Elena Gorshunova, mezzo-soprano Michaela Selinger, alto Atala Schöck, tenor Ric Furman, baritone Zsolt Haja, bass Sebastian Pilgrim, the Jeune Choeur des Hauts-de-France, Orchestre National de Lille and the Orchestre de Picardie. The performances were conducted by Alexandre Bloch. The second performance on 21 November was broadcast live on the orchestra's Facebook page.

In the second performance on 21 November, the first soprano part was shared between Daniela Köhler, who had developed some vocal problems, and Eleanor Ross (far right in the photograph), a soprano in the Philharmonia Chorus, who stepped in at extremely short notice to share the part with Daniela.

A short video of the preparation of these performances can be seen on You Tube.

The Philharmonia Chorus has already taken part in the performances of Mahler's Second and Third symphonies in the Orchestre National de Lille 2019 Mahler cycle.