Ten years ago a group of friends from the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus got together to give a charity performance of Fauré's Requiem conducted by Simon Halsey, the Chorus Director of the CBSC.

We enjoyed the experience so much that we decided to carry on as a chamber choir.  We have performed regularly with the Midlands Sinfonia under Nigel Morley as part of their annual concert season at St Lawrence's Church in Alvechurch, Worcestershire.  We have performed such works as Haydn's St Nicholas Mass, Handel's Messiah and the Petit Messe de Minuit by Charpentier.

In July of 2005 we gave our first "solo" concerts in Birmingham and Alvechurch, and then undertook a tour of Poland, where we performed in Przemysyl, Zakopane and Krakov.  Our programme for these concerts included Motets by Bruckner, Broad Waters by Górecki - which we sang in Polish, to the delight of the audience, and consternation of some of the local clergy - Byrd's Mass for Four Voices and a selection of English part-songs.

Our programme for 2006 was entitled My Spirit Sang All Day, and consisted of part-song cycles by Moeran, Finzi, Vaughan Williams and Britten.  We were joined by the tenor Nick Drew, and the actor and director David Vann who read some English poetry.

In December 2006 we repeated Messiah - by popular demand - at Alvechurch, and the repertoire for 2007 included the Missa Choralis by Liszt, which we took "on tour" to Brecon Cathedral in July.

In 2008 we ventured into unknown territory with a programme of popular and jazz arrangements.

2009, being Mendelssohn's 200th birthday, we will perform his Three Motets, Op.69, along with James MacMillan's Missa Brevis.

Ex Urbe rehearsing at King Edward's School, Birmingham (photo David Grant)