[5] The Bach Choir has performed for many film scores, including Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, Robin Hood, The Chronicles of Narnia, Shrek the Third, Jack the Giant Slayer, and The Martian.

[6] The choir has also released many acclaimed recordings, including Howells's Stabat Mater and Missa Sabrinensis;[7] Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem / Sancta Civitas (2010), which received a Gramophone award nomination;[8] and Frederick Delius's A Mass of Life, which received a coveted Choc de Classica from French classical magazine Classica, and was named Album of the Week by The Sunday Times and The Telegraph.

[6] The Bach Choir regularly commissions new music, including from Roxanna Panufnik, Gabriel Jackson, Gavin Higgins, Carmen Ho, Charlotte Harding, James Wilson, Des Oliver,[10] and Heloise Werner.

A positive feature of the wealthy membership, however, was that programming could be more adventurous without the need to resort to performances of the popular oratorio repertoire to secure essential funds.

[citation needed] The repertoire in the Goldschmidt years was biased towards motets and Renaissance church music, a reflection of his particular interests; but the connection with Bach was maintained by regular performances of the Mass in B Minor and some of the cantatas.

To mark her golden jubilee in 1887, the choir invited Hubert Parry to compose its first commissioned work, the choral ode Blest Pair of Sirens.

Probably at Vaughan Williams's prompting, the choir approached Holst, who had established a reputation as a first-rate choral trainer and teacher as director of music at St Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith, and at Morley College.

Although he was already heavily committed, Boult accepted the appointment; and in June 1928, the handover from Vaughan Williams (who was elected a vice-president of the choir) was finalised at the July 1928 AGM.

In a stay of twenty-eight years he introduced the traditional annual Carol Concert, ensured that activities continued without a break during the Second World War, and in 1947-48 conducted the choir in its first recording – a somewhat abridged performance of the St Matthew Passion with Kathleen Ferrier as the contralto soloist.

He was soon pointing the choir in new directions, introducing important contemporary works including Honegger's King David, Delius's Sea Drift and Janáček's Glagolitic Mass.

He undertook a number of recordings, including a performance of Britten's War Requiem conducted by the composer, which sold 200,000 copies in its first five months.

A series of foreign tours was also arranged to the United States, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, France, Sweden and South Africa.

[15] In the later part of the 20th century the choir worked with conductors such as Pierre Monteux (under whom it performed and recorded Beethoven's Ninth Symphony), Jascha Horenstein, Lorin Maazel and David Oistrakh.