The Brighton Festival Chorus was founded for the 1968 Brighton Festival by its first Music Director, Laszlo Heltay. The choir's first performance - Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer himself - brought overnight success. Brighton Festival Chorus is now one of the most sought-after and versatile choirs in the country with a busy schedule of concerts, recordings and tours both at home and abroad.

In its 41 years Brighton Festival Chorus has appeared with all the major British orchestras and some of the most celebrated conductors of the 20th century - Ashkenazy, Bernstein, Dorati, Maazel, Ozawa, Previn, Rattle, Slatkin and Tennstedt. Amongst its many recordings are award-winning versions of Belshazzar's Feast and A Child of Our Time, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Andre Previn and a recording of choral works by Kodaly. In 2002 the Chorus' recording of Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint-Sebastien with Jacques Mercier and L'Orchestre National d'Ile de France was awarded Le Choc de Monde de la Musique award. A compact disc, Pavilioned in Splendour, issued in 1993 to commemorate the Chorus' first 25 years, illustrates the range and variety of its achievements.

More recently The Chorus has been involved in performances of vibrant new works such as Tavener's Veil of the Temple (concert version) at the BBC Promenade Concerts in 2004 and in the 2006 Brighton Festival. In the 2007 Brighton Festival Chorus collaborated with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under Carl Davis to perform a 'live soundtrack' during a showing of the classic film Henry V.

Under the direction of James Morgan, the Chorus performs throughout the year in concerts at all the major London venues, many European centres and during May each year in the Brighton Festival, England's largest arts festival.