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. Summer term begins on 26th April 2022.
Rehearsal place: St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, Saint Marychurch St, London SE16 4HZ subject to availability. 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 more details of membership.
CURRENT REPERTOIRE
Summer term 2022
- Bob Chilcott’s cantata The Making of the Drum plus songs in celebration of Ada Salter for our Summer Concert on 16 July 2022, 6pm, at St James’s Church, Bermondsey, Thurland Road, SE16 4AA. Click here to download a flyer.
Spring term 2022
- Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Missa in Angustiis, 1798) for our Spring Concert on Saturday 9 April 2022, 7pm, at St James’s Church, Bermondsey, Thurland Road, SE16 4AA.
Winter term 2021
- Clive Jenkins’ Mayflower Pilgrims cantata, for our Winter Concert on Saturday 13 November 2021, 7pm, at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – close to the moorings from where the Mayflower set off on the first leg of its voyage to America.
- Favourite Christmas carols from 100 Carols for Choirs 🎄, for the Family Carol Concert on Saturday 18 December 2021, 5 pm, at
St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe SE16 4JE.
COVID SAFETY
After many months of Zoom meetings, we’re delighted to be rehearsing in person again. As an intergenerational choir, we’re conscious that we still need to be especially careful to keep everybody safe. Choir members are encouraged to wear masks when entering or moving around the rehearsal space, and many of us choose to keep our masks on throughout the rehearsal.
NEWS
- SUMMER CONCERT, St James’s Church Bermondsey, 16 July 2022, 6pm (please note early starting time!)
We’ll be performing 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.
- 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. Enjoy!
PAST EVENTS
- 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 Lestrange, 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.
- Make Music Day ‘Come and Sing’ workshop
Wednesday 21 June 2017 - Spring Concert
Saturday 1 April 2016, 7pm,
St James’s Church, Bermondsey – Thurland Road, SE16 4AA. - Christmas Concert
Saturday 17 December 2016, 7pm,
St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE.
- Concert
RBCS presents a selection of holy and unholy music and readings in a secret subterranean chamber
Wednesday 14 September 2016, 7:30pm
The Thames Tunnel Sinking Shaft, Brunel Museum, London, SE16 4LF
Part of Isambard Brunel dans son cabaret for Totally Thames festival
- Summer concert: Music to celebrate William Shakespeare (d. 1616) and local hero Ada Salter (b. 1856)
Saturday 16 July 2016, 7.30pm,
St Peter and the Guardian Angels Church, Paradise Street, Bermondsey, SE16 4QD (off King’s Stairs Gardens, near The Angel pub)
Photography by Bryn Bird
- Come-and-sing workshop: choruses from Handel’s Messiah
‘Instant choir’ workshop, Saturday 13th February 2016, 2.30–5.30pm,
St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe – St Marychurch Street, SE16 4JE.
Download a flyer with full details here.
Part of the SEE16 Arts Festival 2016 – a community arts festival organised by I live in SE16
- Spring concert: Handel’s Messiah with orchestra and soloists
Saturday 19th March 2016, 7pm,
St James’s Church, Bermondsey – Thurland Road, SE16 4AA. - RBCS ONLINE
RBCS musical director, Sue Heath-Downey, was interviewed by IliveinSE16 website about the choir and how it got started. Read all about it!
- RBCS IN THE COMMUNITY
On 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!‘
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.
Please click on the image to see a full-scale version.
