The BBC National Chorus of Wales is a key institution in modern Welsh culture, often performing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in premieres of Welsh works; its website biography appears in Welsh as well as English. Yet it also leads an independent existence as one of the UK's top amateur choirs, performing a wide variety of repertory in independent concerts and with other orchestras around Britain and beyond.

The ancestor of the present-day BBC National Chorus of Wales was the BBC Welsh Chorus, established in 1947 as a counterpart to the BBC Welsh Orchestra when that group was reestablished after World War II. The BBC Welsh Chorus was reorganized as the BBC Welsh Choral Society in the 1970s, took shape as a full chorus of 150 members in 1983, and took its present name in 1993 when the BBC National Orchestra of Wales received its "national" designation. For both groups, the name indicates involvement with Welsh musical life, including outreach to schools. Accepted by audition, the Chorus members comprise amateur community singers as well as students from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Cardiff University. The Chorus performs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and is generally present when that group premieres new Welsh choral works. It has also appeared with the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras and performs yearly at the BBC Proms. The choir's activities extend beyond Britain; in 2018, it appeared in Rennes, France, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne in a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. The BBC National Chorus of Wales is based at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay, Wales. From 1999 to 2020, it was directed by Adrian Partington; in 2020, Ryan Bancroft was named principal conductor, and Lisa Tregale became artistic director. Tregale was the first woman to hold that post.

The BBC National Chorus of Wales has made several recordings, including an album of Christmas fanfares and carols. In 2016, the group was heard on a recording of Bernard van Dieren's Chinese Symphony. ~ James Manheim, Rovi