The BBC Singers has announced the appointment of its new Chief Conductor, Sofi Jeannin. 

The Swedish conductor will take up her post in July 2018, though before that can be heard conducting the group at the BBC Proms during the festival’s Reformation Day (August 20), and in a programme of Handel's music next year (May 4).   

Jeannin has been Musical Director of la Maîtrise de Radio France since 2008, and in 2015 was appointed Musical Director of the French Radio Chorus (which regularly collaborates with l’Orchestre National de France and l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, among others). 

[Video: Sofi Jeannin rehearses Orff's Carmina burana with the French Radio Chorus]

A commitment to education and outreach work has also led to the development of a full-time choir school in the city of Bondy, north of Paris, and to setting up a new course of choral conducting at the Paris conservatoire.  

‘I feel both thrilled and deeply honoured,’ said Jeannin of her appointment. ‘The BBC Singers represent a performance level which is any conductor's dream – they are a truly marvellous group and working with them is a joyful experience. The values of excellence, of a rich and varied season, of the closeness with the audiences in the halls and through our radio broadcasts are missions that one cannot treat lightly.’

Though the BBC Singers’s repertoire ranges from Early upwards, its place within BBC Radio 3’s mission of musical development means it is frequently involved in contemporary music. Jeannin will succeed David Hill, who took over the choir in 2007.