Rotherhithe & Bermondsey Choral Society

All best wishes for a happy, peaceful Year of the Dragon 2024 from RBCS choir!


RBCS is a friendly non-audition mixed-voice amateur community choir based in Rotherhithe, Southwark, south-east London.
Our aim is to practise and perform good music to suit a variety of tastes, and have a good time in the process.

Rehearsal time: 8.00–9.45 pm every Tuesday during term-time.
Spring term will run from Tuesday 9 January to Tuesday 19 March 2024.

Rehearsal venue: St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, Saint Marychurch St, London SE16 4HZ (subject to change in cold weather – please check your choir emails for up-to-date information).

New members are always welcome for all voice parts. If you enjoy singing and are interested in joining us, please contact us, or just come along to the next rehearsal. See our Join us page for details of membership.


CURRENT REPERTOIRE

Spring term (9 January – 19 March; concert 23 March)

Autumn term 2023

  • Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mid-Winter by Bob Chilcott, and a selection of carols and Christmas music for our Winter Concert
    on Saturday 16 December 2023 at Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe.

Summer term 2023

Spring term 2023

Winter term 2022

  • Seasonal music with a difference – including Gustav Holst’s Christmas Day (choral fantasy on old carols) and Alexander L’Estrange’s folk-inspired Wassail! – for our Winter Concert on 17 December 2022 at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe.

Summer term 2022

Spring term 2022

Winter term 2021

COVID SAFETY
After so many months of Zoom meetings, it has been a great relief to get back to in-person rehearsals. But as an intergenerational choir, we’re conscious that we still need to be especially careful to keep everybody safe. Choir members are encouraged to take extra precausions during the flu season.

 

NEWS

  • CHRISTMAS PAST (AND CHRISTMAS FUTURE?)
    Here’s a (pre-Covid) video of RBCS singing carols under the tree in Trafalgar Square – courtesy of France 3 TV
    News.
    We’re hoping to be back in Trafalgar Square this year!

PAST EVENTS

  • SUMMER CONCERT, 2022
    16 July 2022, 6pm
    St James’s Church Bermondsey
    The Making of the Drum by Bob Chilcott (‘A contemporary hero of British choral music’,
    The Observer) plus songs to celebrate local hero Ada Salter, London’s first woman mayor.
  • SPRING CONCERT 2022
    Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Missa in Angustiis, 1798)
    Saturday 9 April 2022, 7pm
    St James’s Church, Bermondsey,
    Thurland Road, SE16 4AA
  • WINTER CONCERT 2021
    The Mayflower Pilgrims cantata
    Saturday 13 November 2021, 7pm
    St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, SE16 4HZ
  • CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT 2021
    Saturday 18 December 2021
    St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, SE16 4JE
  • SPRING CONCERT 2020 (CANCELLED)
    Requiems by Maurice Duruflé and John Rutter
    4th April 2020
  • CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2019
    Benjamin Britten, Ceremony of Carols
    14th December 2019
  • Southwark Park 150 Year Anniversary
    16th July 2019
    Southwark Park
  • SPRING CONCERT 2019
    Brahms, A German Requiem
    13th April 2019
    St James’ Church, Bermondsey
    SE16 4AA
  • CHRISTMAS CONCERT 2018
    Alexander L’Estrange, Wassail! Carols of Comfort and Joy
    Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Messe de Minuit de Noël
    15th December 2018
    St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe,
    St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE
  • SUMMER CONCERT 2018
    Songs from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story,
    and more
    14th July 2018
    St. Peter’s Church, Bermondsey,
    Paradise Street, SE16 4QDSt James’s Church, Bermondsey –
    Thurland Road, SE16 4AA.
    Click here to download a flyer.
  • Pictures from our Spring 2018 performance
  • SPRING CONCERT 2018
    JS Bach, St John Passion
    with RBCS Chamber Orchestra
    and specially invited soloists.
    Saturday 14 April 2018, 7pm.
    St James’s Church, Bermondsey –
    Thurland Road, SE16 4AA.
    Click here to download a flyer.
  • CAROL SINGING ROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
    in Trafalgar Square
    Thursday 21 December 2017, 7–8pm.
  • WINTER CONCERT 2017
    Seasonal music including Francis Poulenc’s Christmas Motets
    (Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël)
    Saturday 2 December 2017, 7pm,
     St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE.
  • ILLUMINATE ROTHERHITHE 2017
    On 23 November, members of RBCS took part in the Mayflower Concert at St Mary’s Church – part of the inaugural Illuminate Rotherhithe festival.
    Click on the image below to watch a video of the concert.

 

 

  • SUMMER CONCERT 2017
    Carl Orff’s  Carmina Burana and music from mediaeval Europe

RBCS Community Choir
directed by Sue Heath-Downey
plus the wonderful Boutcher Primary School Choir
with soloists Kirsty McLean (soprano) and Panos Ntourntoufis (tenor)
accompanied by percussion and two pianos

TIME: Saturday 8 July 2017, 7.30
PLACE: St Peter and the Guardian Angels Church,
Paradise Street, SE16 4QD
(off King’s Stairs Gardens, near The Angel pub)

Download a flyer here.

 

 

 

 

  • RBCS IN THE COMMUNITY

Funday1_cropOn Saturday 19th September 2015, members of RBCS sang at Cherry Garden TRA Fun Day, to celebrate the refurbishment of the TRA Hall.

The organisers said, ‘A great big thanks to you and all your singers for your brilliant contribution to our Fun Day. It was such a lovely finale!‘Funday2_crop

Thank you, Cherry Gardens TRA, for inviting us! We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

 
RBCS and friends sing Verdi’s Requiem at St James’s, Bermondsey, 5th April 2014
Photography by Thea Downey

 

Singing in Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, May 2013

 

We are proud and honoured to have won a Southwark Civic Award for our community activities.

Civic_award_2013

Please click on the image to see a full-scale version.