The Choir on BBC Radio 3

When a list of the world's greatest choirs appeared in Gramophone magazine there was no shortage of controversy about who did, and did not, make the cut. On The Choir on BBC Radio 3 tonight at 6.45pm (and then available on iPlayer) Aled Jones picks his way through recordings by the top ten ensembles, and also takes a look at a rival list of no fewer than 1000 choirs. Plus, listeners share their own suggestions of groups who perhaps missed out. Hear a William Byrd track from CORO 16077 by The Sixteen, (and some other choirs...........!).

New release: Victoria

Our new CD of works by Victoria is now on sale via our shop. It is released to complement this year's Choral Pilgrimage tour which begins in Oxford on 11 March. The long-established tradition of devotion to the Virgin Mary resulted in some superb settings from Spanish composers. Tomás Luis de Victoria was, quite possibly, the most outstanding composer of the Renaissance and this recording features a tantalizing selection of the sumptuous music he wrote in honour of the Virgin Mary, including some of his exquisite Marian motets and the glorious Missa Alma Redemptoris Mater.

CORO at Midem

Just back from Midem in Cannes, the recording business' annual gathering. It's a chance to meet most of our international distributors face-to-face and to brief them on CORO's release plans for 2011. We were delighted that Harry Christophers was able to join us for a drinks reception to mark CORO's 10th birthday and to launch our new recording of music by Victoria which is released at the start of February.

The BPI Classical and Jazz stand is a friendly collection of rival labels! As you can see from the photo, CORO was in distinguished company.

Here's a list of our most popular releases from our new website shop.