Bates – an amateur musician with a great love and understanding of this composer's works – was also the CBBC's principal conductor and continued in this role until his sudden death, in April 1980.
This untimely exit pre-empted his planned retirement concert performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor,[3][2] scheduled for July of the same year, and effectively ended the first period of the choir's history.
Perrin began his musical life as a chorister at Ely Cathedral, then won a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, studying under Sir David Willcocks.
In 1970 he also joined the newly formed King's Singers, having sung with them on an occasional basis after graduation in the summer of 1969, and thereafter entertaining the world throughout the 1970s as the highest voice (counter-tenor) of the irrepressible and ground-breaking vocal group.
Recent performances have included Sergei Rachmaninov, All-Night Vigil (Rachmaninoff), J.S Bach's St Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor, Mass in Blue by Will Todd, accompanied by the composer, Elis Pehkonen's Russian Requiem,[8] also in the composer's presence, works by Sir Karl Jenkins and Sir James MacMillan's St John Passion who attend the concert performed in Wells Cathedral.
The choir's 60th Anniversary Concert, in the Wiltshire Music Centre in 2007, comprised a newly commissioned work by Ed Hughes,[9] called Song for St Cecilia.
The choir regularly tours abroad: Karl Jenkins’ Requiem was performed at Carnegie Hall, New York, in 2008,[10] and concerts have taken place at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, Paris, and in Hungary, Belgium and Germany.
The choir gave one of the first modern performances of the Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, and other concerts included works by Bononcini, Francesco Cavalli, Antonio Vivaldi, Heinrich Schütz, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Camille Saint-Saëns, Gustav Holst, Anton Bruckner and William Walton.
Similar attention was also given to the selection and engagement of solo singers such as Kathleen Ferrier, Dame Janet Baker, Margaret Cable, Wendy Eathorne, Eric Greene and John Shirley-Quick.
However, after the latter's unexpected death and in recognition of Bates's long and distinguished service, Sir David Willcocks conducted the July 1980 performance of Bach's Mass in B minor as a tribute and memorial.
Appointing a singer as musical director was a break from tradition but Perrin[18] brought insight into the mechanics and techniques of choral singing and a determination to lead the choir to even higher professional standards.
In October 2004 the CBBC was invited to join the Dom Chor in a performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in the presence of HM Ambassador to Germany, HE Sir Peter Torry.
Carols by Candlelight concerts routinely occur in December each year, which from 2001 – 2012 included a performance by the choir's junior section, formed and led by Nigel Perrin and sponsored by the CBBC for more than a decade, 'to sow a seed for what may be to come in the future'.
The City of Bath Bach Junior Choir enabled children from 8–15 years to sing together and learn basic musical techniques and at its height it had some 50 or more singers.
However, an opportunity for talented young musicians is still provided as an interlude during the Carol concerts, principally performed by exceptional music students from Wells Cathedral School.
The Bath Bach Choir's biggest recent challenge – supported by the combined forces of Exeter Festival Chorus[21] and The Wellensian Consort[22]– was arguably staging two performances of The Saint John Passion, an exceptionally demanding contemporary piece composed by Sir James MacMillan and sung in his presence.
The choir returned to Bath Abbey for a live concert, socially distanced, presented to a restricted but, judging by the request for an encore, most appreciative audience of 150 people on 3 July 2021.