How does it feel to reach this milestone with BSO Voices?

We feel very proud that BSO Voices has been such a success and especially of the lovely community that has formed as part of the choir. To become a choir is to become part of a group, so it’s been wonderful to witness all those separate voices coming together to form the BSO Voices that we see today. It’s been heartwarming to watch the choir find themselves within that process and we’re delighted at the way it has progressed over the years.

What was your vision for the choir when you started out?

The idea for the original choir was sparked by the Inspiration choirs which are based in Newcastle and Leeds, and which partner with Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Orchestra of Opera North. We wanted to build upon this model and bring something similar to the South West.

Inspiration choirs are built upon the idea of embedding a community choir within an orchestra. Most orchestras have their wonderful, attached choruses (as we do with Bournemouth Symphony Chorus), but BSO Voices is a very different model to the chorus. It’s informal and anyone can join, you don’t need to audition or be able to read music — in fact, the only requirement is that you want to sing! BSO Voices rehearses various pieces throughout the term and then come together for a performance with the Orchestra at the end of each term.

Has that vision been realised? How has BSO Voices developed and changed over the years?

We started with an open day and it really took off! We were delighted to see how many people signed up. And then about six years ago we transformed from Inspiration choir into BSO Voices. But despite the changes over the years, it’s lovely that we have at least six original members who have been coming since the very beginning and who still attend every term. And there are another sixty to eighty people who attend regularly each term too; so there’s a truly loyal and dedicated community.

I have to give a shout out here to the brilliant conductors Pete Harrison and Teresa Barlow who lead BSO Voices, they’re a fantastic creative team who — along with the wonderful choir members — really make BSO Voices everything it is.

We know that the benefits of choirs are far reaching, going well beyond simply the joy of singing. Tell us more…

Absolutely. There are so many benefits that come from singing in choirs —  from social benefits to physical health benefits. It’s not just the thrill of singing with the BSO each term; choir members have formed a real social community beyond the rehearsals. They have a strong sense of belonging and support each other as well as plan social trips together. We’ve also witnessed that being part of the choir – and the community that brings with it – has really helped people’s confidence and mental health, even contributing to one individual’s recovery from agoraphobia.

Singing is so helpful, from a physical health perspective too. It’s proven that singing improves people’s breathing, muscular tension and posture. It’s a form of physical exercise in that you are exercising the voice; simultaneously learning new lyrics to a song is a great workout for the brain. There has even been some research that singing can improve immune function. It’s no surprise, then, that we see such benefits in so many of our BSO Voices members.

BSO Voices worked together throughout the pandemic. Do you believe that this touch point provided a real lifeline for people?

Yes, it really was. It was incredibly important for the BSO Voices community that we continued working together at that time; and so, we took the decision to carry out weekly Zoom rehearsals. There were some technical issues (of course!) but it still worked. Although we couldn’t gather in person we managed to record some brilliant performances together including Can You Feel the Love tonight?, Put on your Sunday Clothes  and Over the Rainbow. These were such wonderful, uplifting performances which I think everyone feels very proud of.

It can’t be underestimated how helpful that source of connection and community was for some choir members who were living very isolated lives at the time; for people who were sheltering and unable to connect with community as they usually would the choir was a lifeline.

What does the future hold for BSO Voices?

We’re holding our ‘Big BSO Voices Singalong Day’ on 3 August, at the O2 Guildhall in Southampton. This is a brilliant opportunity for anyone to come along and try out BSO Voices for the day, and of course sing alongside Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra too!

We’d love for BSO Voices to continue to go from strength to strength. One of our ambitions is to develop another community choir in another of our regions in the South West at some point. Another idea that we’d love to make a reality is to bring the three original ‘Inspiration’ choirs together for one huge performance, and have a chorus of over 500…so, maybe we’ll achieve that one day!

For details of Big BSO Voices Singalong Day and how to sign up click here

Watch our video about BSO Voices below: