BBC Singers

The oldest of all the BBC's performing groups, the BBC Singers started life as the Wireless Chorus in 1924. Since then, the BBC's professional chamber choir has a gained a unique reputation built on their ability to tackle over five centuries of choral music, especially the most demanding, cutting-edge contemporary repertoire.

The Singers have premiered many works, including Poulenc's wartime cantata Figure humaine. In this afternoon's programme, an opportunity to hear the Poulenc with improvised-in-the-moment interpolations from the Mullov-Abbado jazz trio, and a 21st-century premiere by Judith Weir, a composer championed by the Singers' conductor Sofie Jeannin. Weir's oratorio follows the seasons in settings of 55 brief poems by the Scottish poet Alan Spence. In between comes the 17th-century festive anthem O clap your hands by Orlando Gibbons.

Introduced by Andrew McGregor.

Orlando Gibbons: O clap your hands
BBC Singers
Peter Philips (conductor)

Judith Weir: blue hills beyond blue hills
BBC Singers
Ligeti Quartet
Sofie Jeannin (conductor)

Francis Poulenc/Misha Mullov-Abbado: Figure humaine (with jazz trio)
BBC Singers
Mullov-Abbado Trio
Sofie Jeannin (conductor)