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The BBC National Chorus of Wales is a key institution in modern Welsh culture, often performing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in premieres of Welsh works. Its website biography appears in Welsh as well as English. Yet it also leads an independent existence as one of Britain's top amateur choirs, performing a wide variety of repertory in independent concerts and with other orchestras around Britain and beyond. The Chorus has made a variety of recordings, including one of Charles Villiers Stanford's Te Deum and Elegiac Ode in 2024.

The ancestor of the present-day BBC National Chorus of Wales was the BBC Welsh Chorus, established in 1947 as a counterpart to the BBC Welsh Orchestra when that group was reestablished after World War II. The BBC Welsh Chorus was reorganized as the BBC Welsh Choral Society in the 1970s, took shape as a full chorus of 150 members in 1983, and recorded the album Celebration (Christmas Fanfares & Carols) in 1991 under the name BBC Welsh Chorus. The group took its present name in 1993 when the BBC National Orchestra of Wales received its "national" designation. For both groups, the name indicates involvement with Welsh musical life, including outreach to schools. Accepted by audition, the Chorus members comprise amateur community singers as well as students from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Cardiff University. The Chorus performs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and is generally present when that group premieres new Welsh choral works. It has also appeared with the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras and performs yearly at the BBC Proms.

The choir's activities extend beyond Britain; in 2018, it appeared in Rennes, France, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne in a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. The BBC National Chorus of Wales is based at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay, Wales. From 1999 to 2020, it was directed by Adrian Partington; in 2020, Ryan Bancroft was named principal conductor, and Lisa Tregale became artistic director. Tregale was the first woman to hold that post. The BBC National Chorus of Wales has made several more recordings. In 2016, it was heard on a recording of Bernard van Dieren's "Chinese" Symphony, and in 2023, it recorded the premiere of the Welsh-language version of composer Arwel Hughes' Dewi Sant (Saint David). In 2024, the Chorus joined the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on a Lyrita recording of Stanford's Te Deum and Elegiac Ode, the latter a setting of a section of Walt Whitman's When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd. ~ James Manheim

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is an integral part of Welsh culture, giving frequent premieres of works by Welsh composers. The orchestra is often active beyond Wales, recording a variety of material that includes many BBC television soundtracks.

The origins of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales lay in the Cardiff Station Orchestra, which was founded in 1924. In 1928, it was renamed the National Orchestra of Wales. This orchestra dissolved under funding pressures in 1931 but was revived as the BBC Welsh Orchestra in 1935. Wartime restrictions led the orchestra to disband in 1939, but after the war, it was revived once again and grew consistently, from 31 members to 66 members by 1976, when it was renamed the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra. The group now has 78 members. It took its present name in 1993, and an associated chorus was also named the BBC National Chorus of Wales. Notable among the orchestra's performances have been some 50 world premieres, most of which have been of music by Welsh composers, including more than 20 by Alun Hoddinott, whose namesake Hoddinott Hall now houses the orchestra's administrative offices (its concerts mostly take place at St. David's Hall in Cardiff). The orchestra and chorus also gave the world premiere of Arvo Pärt's In spe in 2010. The orchestra has helped nurture several international conducting careers, including those of Richard Hickox (principal conductor from 2000-2006), Thierry Fischer (2006-2012), Thomas Søndergård (2012-2017), and Xian Zhang (2017-2020, the first female principal conductor of any BBC orchestra. Ryan Bancroft was named principal conductor in 2020; Lisa Tregale was named artistic director, becoming the first woman to hold the post.

The orchestra has a large catalog of more than 65 recordings that is by no means restricted to the music of Welsh composers. That total does not include BBC television soundtrack recordings for, among other programs, Doctor Who. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales has recorded for the Hyperion, BIS, and Chandos labels, as well as for Linn, where it released a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies. The year 2014 saw the release of no fewer than seven recordings by the group. In 2020, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales was heard on Beethoven Reimagined, an album by composer/DJ Gabriel Prokofiev. ~ James Manheim

Adrian Partington is one of Britain's most active and vigorous choral conductors. He has served as director of music at Gloucester Cathedral since 2007 while also leading several other prominent choirs. He is also noted as an organist, pianist, and educator. Partington has conducted choral works with several major British orchestras. He has a substantial recording catalog that includes a 2024 release featuring choral works by Charles Villiers Stanford.

Partington was born in Nottingham on October 1, 1958. His father was a pianist, and his mother was a violinist; they played sonatas in the evening and did not have a television in the house. As a chorister in the Worcester Cathedral Choir, he sang at the famed Three Choirs Festival when he was ten and was exposed to major choral works like Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Op. 123. Partington attended King's College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar. He also studied with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music in London. Partington's first professional post was at Worcester Cathedral, where he was assistant organist from 1981 to 1991. He gradually became more interested in conducting, however, and for many years, he was active outside of cathedral settings. Partington prepared and conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus and its associated Youth Chorus under Simon Rattle's leadership in the 1990s. He made his recording debut in 1996 as an organist, issuing the first in a series of albums devoted to the organ sonatas of Gustav Merkel on the Priory Records label.

In 1999, Partington became director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales. This position also involved conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for several concerts each year. In 2000, he added the directorship of the Bristol Choral Society to his schedule. Partington made guest conducting appearances during this period with the BBC Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, and other top choirs. He continued in the Bristol post even after his appointment at Gloucester Cathedral in 2007. With this post came other responsibilities: joint conductorship of the Three Choirs Festival, where he programmed the 2010 event for the first time, leading the world premiere of John Joubert's English Requiem, as well as the conductorship of the Gloucester Choral Society. He has appeared as an organ or piano soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, and other major orchestras. Despite the press of daily responsibilities at Gloucester, Partington has found time to organize and conduct several recordings on the Priory and Lyrita labels. In 2019, he led the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales in the world premiere recording of Charles Villiers Stanford's Mass "Via Victrix 1914-1918," Op. 173, on Lyrita. In 2024, he returned on Lyrita with a second album of Stanford's works, featuring the Te Deum, Op. 66. ~ James Manheim