The Southend Festival Chorus was formed in 1969, and is now one of the leading choirs of its type in the South East of England. The present Director is Michael Crabb MBE.

The Chorus has built a reputation for outstanding performances of standard choral works, including the Requiems of Berlioz, Brahms, Mozart and Verdi, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Mass in B Minor, Missa Solemnis - Beethoven, Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and The Music Makers, and Handel's Messiah. The Chorus has also performed many major contemporary works, such as Britten's War Requiem, Tippett's A Child of our Time, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, This Worlde's Joie by Matthias, and one of the first performances of Geoffrey Burgon's Revelations, conducted by Sir Charles Groves. In addition the Chorus gives the Cliffs Pavilion's annual Carol Concert, in which they are joined by local school choirs, raising considerable sums for Charity.

The Chorus has performed in Holland, France and Belgium. In the UK performances have ranged from Cathedrals to The Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican and the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The chorus works regularly with leading London Orchestras such as The Royal Philharmonic and the London Concert Orchestra. They have worked regularly with the London Mozart Players, participating in very well received performances, the latest of which was in April 2001, when they sang Vivaldi's Gloria, conducted by Sian Edwards. Their work with the London Festival Orchestra has included performances of Carmina Burana at Kenwood Lakeside, as well as at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend. The Chorus works closely with The New Queens Hall Orchestra, the resident orchestra at the Cliffs Pavilion, collaborating for very successful performances of Brahms' Requiem, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, and Belshazzar's Feast.

In November 1998 the Chorus undertook one of its most exciting ventures to date. They were invited to perform Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in Ypres Cathedral, Belgium during the weekend of the 80th anniversary of the ending of the First World War. The whole weekend was very emotional, from the thought provoking battlefield tours and Menin Gate ceremony, to the performance before a capacity audience with a standing ovation set in the very heart of an area devastated 80 years before during major battles of the First World War, and now rebuilt in memory of the hundreds of thousands who died. The Chorus was invited to return to Ypres, and performed Elgar's Dream of Gerontius there in May 2001.