About the Choir

Founded in October 1946 by the late Cuthbert Bates, the City of Bath Bach Choir is one of the leading musical and artistic forces in the West of England, and has given performances in Bath and environs every year since its foundation.  Originally conceived to perform the works of J. S. Bach, the Choir has always had a varied repertoire that in recent years has ranged from performances of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 to modern and original works such as David Fanshawe's African Sanctus, Jonathan Lloyd's Requiem Aeternam and Karl Jenkins' Armed Man.

The choir also does regular tours to the continent. These have included perfomances in Chartres Cathedral and Notre Dame, Paris, in 1997, a visit to Bath's twin town of Kaposvar in Hungary in 1999, concerts in Bruges and Liege in 2000, and a visit to another twin, Braunschweig in Germany, in October 2002, where they performed Haydn's St Nicholas Mass with the Dom Chor.

A momentous visit to Braunschweig took place in October 2004 this time with The Bath Choral Society for two performances of Britten's War Requiem, again with the Dom Chor. These commemorated the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Braunschweig by the RAF, and the first was attended by the British Ambassador to Germany.

In March 2005 the choir made a new departure by performing Bach's St John Passion in a semi-staged version. While the choruses and chorales were performed in a traditional way, the crowd scenes were staged dramatically a capella. All the singers were dressed informally. A year later St Matthew Passion was performed in a more traditional manner.

The choir took part in a concert in the Carnegie Hall, New York on January 21st 2008. Read about this exciting venture.

Musical Director

An internationally renowned choral musician and former chorister of Ely Cathedral, Nigel Perrin was a choral scholar at King's College Cambridge where he studied under Sir David Willcocks, the Choir's President. On leaving Cambridge he first became well known as the high voice of The King's Singers and for eleven years he travelled the world on concert tours recording some twenty-five albums and appearing in countless television shows with artists as diverse as Kiri Te Kanawa and Sir Cliff Richard. This background and experience formed the basis of his current career, conducting, directing choral workshops and summer schools, adjudicating and teaching. Having established Bath Camerata as one of the country's leading chamber choirs, he is now greatly sought after as a choral conductor, directing the Bath Festival Chorus and the Exeter Festival Chorus and working regularly as a consultant and motivator to many other choral groups. Nigel Perrin has been the Musical Director of the City of Bath Bach Choir since 1990.

Musical Director Nigel Perrin