Ex Cathedra

Continuo Foundation grantee
Supported by Continuo Foundation
For more than 50 years we have been producing highly-acclaimed concerts and participatory projects, and nurturing young musicians from our youth training choirs to our student and graduate Scholar schemes.
We enjoy an international reputation for our performances of the best, the unfamiliar and the unexpected, and take pride in developing the repertoire through researching and reviving little-known gems, commissioning new work, and developing exciting ways of engaging audiences and participants.
Founded by Jeffrey Skidmore in 1969, the group has grown into a unique musical resource, comprising specialist chamber choir, vocal Consort, period-instrument orchestra, and a thriving education and participation programme, aiming to explore, research and commission the finest choral music and to set the highest standards in performance and training.
We present a series of concerts in our home city of Birmingham, where we are an Associate Artist at the B:Music venues Symphony Hall & Town Hall – across the Midlands, and in London. We enjoy invitations to appear at festivals and concert series and have appeared as far afield as New York and Tel Aviv.
Our recordings include three best-selling CDs of music from the Latin American Baroque, and several CDs of French Baroque music by Charpentier, Lalande and Rameau.
As well as performing and recording Early Music, we have commissioned and recorded new works for period instruments by composers including Sally Beamish, Liz Dilnot Johnson and Alec Roth.
Biography
Ex Cathedra is a leading UK choir and Early Music ensemble. We give ground-breaking performances of music from the 12th to the 21st centuries and lead the sector in the fields of learning and wellbeing.
For more than 50 years we have been producing highly-acclaimed concerts and participatory projects, and nurturing young musicians from our youth training choirs to our student and graduate Scholar schemes.
We enjoy an international reputation for our performances of the best, the unfamiliar and the unexpected, and take pride in developing the repertoire through researching and reviving little-known gems, commissioning new work, and developing exciting ways of engaging audiences and participants.
Founded by Jeffrey Skidmore in 1969, the group has grown into a unique musical resource, comprising specialist chamber choir, vocal Consort, period-instrument orchestra, and a thriving education and participation programme, aiming to explore, research and commission the finest choral music and to set the highest standards in performance and training.
We present a series of concerts in our home city of Birmingham, where we are an Associate Artist at the B:Music venues Symphony Hall & Town Hall – across the Midlands, and in London. We enjoy invitations to appear at festivals and concert series and have appeared as far afield as New York and Tel Aviv.
Our recordings include three best-selling CDs of music from the Latin American Baroque, and several CDs of French Baroque music by Charpentier, Lalande and Rameau.
As well as performing and recording Early Music, we have commissioned and recorded new works for period instruments by composers including Sally Beamish, Liz Dilnot Johnson and Alec Roth.
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Upcoming Concerts
Past programmes

Latin American Baroque Ritual 1631
Thu, 20 March 2025
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
7:30pm
£10-£35 + booking fee
St Martin-in-the-Fields
- ➕2 other performances

Bach Mass in B Minor
Sun, 1 December 2024
Town Hall, Birmingham
4:00pm
£15 - £46, up to 17 & students £5, age 18-30 £15

Bruckner, Palestrina & Allegri
Sun, 13 October 2024
Town Hall, Birmingham
4:00pm
£15 - £46, up to 17 & students £5, age 18-30 £15

Monteverdi Vespers 1610
Sun, 15 September 2024
Online
11:59pm
Season ticket £85, indiv. tickets available
Live from London Summer 2024

Good Friday Bach - St John Passion
Fri, 29 March 2024
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
2:00pm
£5 - £53.50

Baroque Passion
Sun, 11 February 2024
Birmingham Town Hall
4:00pm
£5 - £46
- ➕1 other performance

Handel's Messiah
Sun, 3 December 2023
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
4:00pm
£5 - £56

Byrd to Bacharach – and Bach
Tue, 21 November 2023
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
7:00pm
£20 (£5 concessions)

Bach St Matthew Passion
Fri, 7 April 2023
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
2:00pm
£15-£53