inaccessible to professionals. Rehearsals take place twice a week, and the Chorus has very high requirements, with selection being tough. Sir Andrew Davis, conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2000, is President of the Chorus. Appropriately enough, this appointment was announced through the medium of song by Davis himself at the Last Night of the Proms, 2000. Under Davis, the Chorus has performed the major choral works of Elgar; the symphonies of Mahler; Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust and Romeo and Juliet; Walton's Belshazzar's Feast; Delius's A Song of the High Hills; and Tippett's The Mask of Time as well as The Vision of Saint Augustine, A Child of Our Time and The Midsummer Marriage. Neil Ferris was appointed as Chorus Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus from May 2017. Grace Rossiter was appointed as Deputy Chorus Director. The appointment of Helen MacLeod in the new position of Choruses Manager of the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Proms Youth Choir was announced at the same time. The BBC Symphony Chorus's 90th birthday season included concerts featuring Ethel Smyth's Mass in D, Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and Bach's B Minor Mass. Neil Ferris made his BBC Proms conducting debut in August 2019, celebrating the 90th anniversary season of the BBC Symphony Chorus with the premiere of Jonathan Dove’s specially commissioned piece We Are One Fire. The final concert before the halting of the season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in London was Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (4 March 2020), marking 250 years since the year of Beethoven's birth. In the last review of a BBC Symphony Chorus concert before the lockdown, Paul Driver said in the Sunday Times, "One was lost in admiration for the BBC Symphony Chorus, trained by Neil Ferris, in the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s account of the magnum opus at the Barbican, conducted by Donald Runnicles." Notable recordings As well as featuring in dedicated studio recordings for BBC Radio 3, the BBC Symphony Chorus's discography consists of over 120 commercial recordings, many featuring collaborations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Recent commercial recordings include Brett Dean’s Vexations and Devotions under David Robertson; Szymanowski’s Stabat mater, Harnasie and Symphony No. 3 under Edward Gardner; and Holst's First Choral Symphony, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, and Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette), all under the baton of its President, Sir Andrew Davis. In 2004 and