Bath Camerata

Recognised for its virtuosity and versatility, Bath Camerata exists to provide outstanding musical experiences to audiences and singers alike. The choir has appeared at many major venues from Wigmore Hall and St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, to the Thomaskirche, Leipzig, and the Oriental Art Center, Shanghai. Bath Camerata collaborates with many of the world’s leading artists and ensembles: past projects include performances with The Three Tenors, The Tallis Scholars, I Fagiolini, Britten Sinfonia, Joanna MacGregor, Roderick Williams, Paco Peña, Brian Eno, English Touring Opera and Ballet Rambert. The choir has made many television appearances, including in 2017 singing Roderick Williams’s Jazz Responses for Lucy Worsley: Elizabeth I’s Battle for God’s Music on BBC4. In August 2019 Bath Camerata undertook a hugely successful 7-concert tour of China, performing in major concert halls across the country from Shanghai to Inner Mongolia.

Contemporary music is central to Bath Camerata’s programming and the choir has commissioned and premiered numerous works, including compositions by Sir James MacMillan, Giles Swayne, Will Todd, Owain Park and Roderick Williams. A disc of contemporary British choral music, Songs of Renewal, was added to Bath Camerata’s list of successful recordings in March 2019, released on SOMM Recordings to widespread critical acclaim.

Currently we are excited to be commissioning Jonathan Dove to write a substantial new choral work, in memory of our dear friend Hannah Shaw:

Highlights of the 2019/2020 season (pre-pandemic) included a collaboration with Wild Plum Arts and the Wiltshire Music Centre, a Christmas concert with John Rutter, and a performances of Brahms’ Requiem in Malmesbury Abbey. The 2021/22 season includes concerts in the choir’s home town of Bath and our annual Wells Cathedral Good Friday concert, plus a debut appearance at the Presteigne Festival in August 2022.

We are delighted to be working with Benjamin Kirk as our new Musical Director (since January 2022), and to be continuing our relationship with our former Musical Director Benjamin Goodson in the role of Principal Guest Conductor. The choir was founded in 1986 by Nigel Perrin, our Musical Director until 2015.