Founded in 1971, under the auspices of the Portsmouth Festival, the Choir has performed most of the standard choral repertoire from the Baroque masters to the 20th century, occasionally exploring less familiar music by contemporary composers such as Malcolm Archer, Michael Hurd and Peter Sculthorpe. For the performance of large-scale works the Choir has joined forces with other groups including Guildford Choral Society, (Britten’s War Requiem), Basingstoke Choral Society, (Tippett’s A Child of our Time and Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts) the City of Duisberg Choir (Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky) and Romsey Choral Society (Mozart’s Mass in C Minor).
Portsmouth Festival Choir normally presents at least three concerts each season, and its 70 or so members regularly work with professional soloists and orchestral musicians. Since its first concert in Portsmouth’s Guildhall the choir has performed in a number of venues both locally and further afield including Chichester Cathedral (Bach’s St John Passion), Huddersfield Town Hall (Orff's Carmina Burana) and The Anvil, Basingstoke (Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony). In addition the Choir has sung in venues in Germany and France, most recently in Caen.
Last season the choir sang a Handel themed concert in Portsmouth Cathedral with renowned counter-tenor James Bowman. Other concerts included Brahms' German Requiem and a concert of animal themed music with wind ensemble Harlequin.
Portsmouth Festival Choir has been privileged to enjoy the services of a number of distinguished conductors and, during the choir’s early years, these included Sir John Eliot Gardner, Sir Charles Groves, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Roger Norrington, Norman del Mar, Alexander Lazarev and Richard Hickox. David Gibson became the principal musical director in 1978 thereafter combining the role of chorus master and regular conductor. Rupert d’Cruze and David Truslove took up successive appointments as conductor. There is currently a vacancy for a musical director which is being temporarily filled by the deputy musical director Mark Dancer.
Portsmouth Festival Choir rehearses weekly with its musical director in the City of Portsmouth Girls' School.