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  • Reflections on "Christmas" week

    For choir, the end of another Michaelmas term came crashing towards us with services, concerts and assorted carolling opportunities seeming to snowball all at once. With term finishing so soon in early December, we found ourselves having to roll the Advent and Christmas seasons into the same week. The festivities kicked off on Sunday 27th November, when the Mixed and Boys’ choirs sang in the most popular service of the year; the Advent Carol Service. Chapel was completely full of friends and family, some of whom queued for what must have seemed like hours in the wintry evening air in to get a good seat. They were rewarded (we hope) with a varied selection of Advent pieces and readings, as well as warming seasonal refreshments afterwards. A highlight for the Mixed Choir was giving the premiere performance of American composer Stewart Duncan’s setting of the carol, There Is No Rose, the winning entry of this year’s Carol Composition Competition.

    Fortunately, the piece got a second outing a few days later at our Christmas Concert of Carols and Readings. This time we joined forces with the Staff Choir, combining for one carol as well as for the congregational hymns, sang with gusto by those in another packed out Chapel. This, the penultimate duty of term for the Mixed Choir, was followed by our Christmas dinner in Hall, where, in keeping with tradition, we entertained the paper hat-clad masses with a few light hearted carols in between courses. The festivities continued into the evening with our end of term choir party, courtesy of the senior organ scholar and his large room, which kept us in good spirits till our final engagement of term: a Community Carol Service for members, alumni and friends of the College on Saturday 3rd December.

    If you were unfortunate enough to miss all of these festive events, or even if you attended them all but still haven’t had your fill of sound of Worcester College Chapel Choir, fear not! In late November we were excited to announce the release of the newest Boys’ Choir CD, “O Sing Joyfully”. Featuring a medley of music for the service of evensong, including pieces by Sumsion, Bairstow, Chilcott, Bach and Mendelssohn, these make a perfect Christmas present for fans of choral and organ music, or anyone with a link to College. With copies selling fast, order yours soon from the College Lodge (01865 278300) or by emailing the Director of Music at thomas.allery@worc.ox.ac.uk.

    Updates of our various antics will continue in the new term, but for now, from all of us in the choirs and Chapel of Worcester College, we wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

  • O Sing Joyfully

    A new CD recording from the college boys’ choir.

    The boys’ choir have just released a new recording of music for evensong. Recorded in March this year, the disc contains music from an evensong service including pieces by Herbert Sumsion, Sir Edward Bairstow, Bob Chilcott, and Maurice Bevan. Several organ pieces by the college organ scholars and director of music include pieces by Bach, Bohm and Mendelssohn. 

    The CD may be purchased from the college lodge (01865 278300) or by email from thomas.allery@worc.ox.ac.uk  

    This CD release marks the end of a buys year for the boys’ choir, who last week sang evensong in Worcester Cathedral, performing Sumsion and Britten. 

    CD Cover

  • Mid-term merriment and choir hits the road; a 7th week update

    Hopefully the loyal followers of this blog will have correctly assumed that the delay in publishing this, the fourth entry, has been caused by a packed out and exciting choir schedule (as well as the odd essay getting in the way). The past three weeks have seen the Mixed Choir tackle a performance of Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman’s canticles during an Evensong which she attended; a Requiem Mass for All Souls; and two joint evensongs with St Peter’s College Chapel Choir and the Chamber Choir of Canford School respectively, alongside all our usual chapel commitments. However, two external events stand out as highlights in what has been a busy term so far.

    Queen's Chapel of the Savoy
    The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy
    Pizza Express!
    Pizza Express!

    On Wednesday of 6th week, members of the Mixed Choir were escorted by Oxford Tube to London by our resident grown-up: Martin, a Computer Science DPhil student [Ha! “Grown up” – Ed.]. The ensuing battle with Stagecoach and the actual tube was eventually won, with the choir arriving only 40 minutes late to rehearsal in the beautiful Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy. The concert, featuring a variety of music for the season of Remembrance including Fauré’s Requiem, was completely sold out some days beforehand, perhaps due to the success of our concert in the same venue almost exactly a year ago. There was particularly strong representation from the staff of Give a Kidney – One’s Enough, who we serenaded on the occasion of their charity’s 5th birthday (at the urging of the concert organiser). 20 hurried pizzas and a well-received concert later, and it was back home to Oxford. Till next time, Brandenburg Choral Festival!

    The demand for Worcester College Choirs from external venues continued this week with the Boys’ Choir day out to sing evensong at Worcester Cathedral, a particular favourite of choir since our #worc2worc trip there for a few days this August. With music by Sumsion and Britten (on what would have been the latter’s 103rd birthday), evensong was very well-received and enjoyed by all, particularly the boys who had the afternoon off school (always a bonus) despite having to travel in the minibus while the choral scholars took the luxury of the train. All in all it provided a great trip out, bringing to a close this term’s series of choir ‘on the road’ trips.

    Worcester in Worcester (Cathedral)
    Worcester in Worcester (Cathedral)
    Worcester in Worcester (Cathedral)
    Worcester in Worcester (Cathedral)

     

     

     

     

     

  • Canford School sing joint evensong with the mixed choir

    The mixed choir was delighted to host the chamber choir of Canford School who sang a joint evensong service in the chapel on November 10th. 

    Former organ scholar Mr Chris Sparkhall (now Director  of Music at Canford School) conducted part of the service which included music by McKie, Harwood, and Ireland. 

    The pupils of Canford enjoyed a brief tour of the college (despite current building works on the front quad), before meeting choral and organ scholars over tea and cake before the rehearsal. 

    Last week, the mixed choir sang evensong in St Peter’s College chapel combined with the choir of St. Peter’s, singing music by Rachmaninov, Howells and Harris. It was a pleasure for Worcester’s choir to return once again to St. Peter’s, and Worcester College looks forward to welcoming them back in 2017. 

    canford1

  • Choir performs canticles by composer Rachel Portman

    rachel-portmanOn Monday October 31st, the mixed choir performed a set of canticles by alumna and honorary fellow Rachel Portman. 

    Rachel studied music at Worcester College before becoming a successful and influential film composer (with works including The Duchess and Chocolat), the college was proud to recognise her achievements in offering her an honorary fellow in 2016. 

    Following an inspirational talk to student composers in conjunction with the Faculty of Music, choral evensong in the chapel featured her Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis written in 1986 and an anthem by Parry, a former Heather Professor of Music at the University. 

    Further information about Rachel’s work may be found on her website: www.rachelportman.co.uk 

  • Carol Composition Competition 2016

    This year’s carol composition competition has been won by Stewart Duncan, an American composer from Indiana.

    christmascarolsheetmusicStewart Duncan (b.1993) is a Bloomington, Indiana-based composer pursuing his Ph.D. in Musicology from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Duncan graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri in 2015 with a B.A. in Oxbridge Honors Music History, and was the resident Music Scholar at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. Stewart studied composition with Dr. Ian Coleman and Dr. Anthony Maglione at William Jewell, as well as with Dr. Steven Grahl at New College, Oxford. His works have been premiered by the Choir of St. John’s College, Oxford, the Choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, by the Concert Choir, Schola Cantorum, and Chamber Orchestra of William Jewell College, and by the Choir of Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City.

    The panel was delighted with the standard and number of entries to this year’s competition and was impressed with the range of musical ideas presented in the entries. Stewart’s piece will be premiered in the College carol service on November 27th.

    Last year’s winner was Harry Baker.

    Look out for news of the 2017 competition which will be announced in the Spring.

  • The life of the choral scholars in photos

    So, here we go…let’s find out what the choral scholars get up to during an average week…in photos!

    combibos
    Prepping the vocal chords before a rehearsal with the help of the one and only Combibos coffee
    chinwag
    A cheeky chinwag before the service
    lineup
    (Mostly) cheerful faces as the choir robe up for evensong
    lineup
    The pre-evensong line-up
    wannabes
    Choir wannabes join us for dinner
    slice
    Louisa and Dan lament the missing slice…

    And now for some photos of all the random things the choir get up to during the year…

    st peters
    Combining forces for a joint evensong with St Peters’ Choir
    staffchoir1
    A throw-back to summer days: an outdoor concert with the staff choir
    Singing in the rain
    Singing in the rain!
    italy
    Soaking up the rays in our outdoor rehearsal on tour in Italy
    Getting in the festive spirit with our new range of Christmas cassocks
    choir-football
    Choir football tournament 2016: the closest one of our balls came to the goal was this photo

     

  • A swell day in the life of a Senior Organ Scholar

    A swell day in the life of a Senior Organ Scholar

    Worcester Chapel is blessed with three talented organ scholars, whose varied responsibilities range from training the probationers and choristers of the boys’ choir; directing and accompanying rehearsals and services; and the organising the administration that goes along with running the music for a busy college chapel. They all somehow manage to fit in a Music degree too in their spare time. When I registered an interest in chatting to them, so our loyal blog readers could get an insight into a typical day, our senior organ scholar Dan Mathieson willingly piped up.

    How does a normal day start for a Worcester OS?

    Well, if we have a morning boys’ rehearsal, which we do have three times a week, then we have to be down at the Cathedral school at 8am. The three of us are pretty non-communicative at this time as you might imagine, so the team coffee normally waits till afterwards. Some of the boys travel in from quite far though so their days start a lot earlier – they’re often half way through their mornings by 8 so are feeling bright as day and ready to go. We currently have 20 boys in the choir, all between years 4 and 8 at school. A typical rehearsal will start with a warm up then we’ll split them into groups to learn repertoire. They’re actually on half term break this week, but they’ll be back with a vengeance on Sunday of 4th week for Noble in B minor and Wood O Thou the Central Orb – stay tuned!

    Dan Mathieson
    Dan enjoying a well-deserved drink after a busy day

    And how would your day progress?

    Well, for example today I had a lecture at 9am on string quartets after Beethoven, which covers everything from Brahms to Stockhausen’s ‘Helicopter String Quartet’. After a brief Combibos coffee with my esteemed Worcester music colleagues, I dashed off to the Music Faculty to pick up a score of Monteverdi’s opera The Coronation of Poppea that I need to analyse for a tute on Monday. Then it was back to college for Staff Choir!

    (Worcester has had a thriving Staff Choir since Trinity Term 2015, and Dan was the founding accompanist.)
    How is Staff Choir going this term?

    It has around 10 core members at the moment and grows to about 20 in peak times, though today it was a bit quieter than normal as it’s quite busy in the college offices at the moment what with admissions. Today we started some Christmas rep to go alongside our three-part arrangement of California Dreaming. It’s led by our Director of Chapel Music, Tom Allery, who’s known for his enlightening metaphors or “Allerisms” which he uses to explain particular vocal techniques; today he brought out a classic – just like how the counterweights of lifts work, when you’re singing low, think up! Surely everyone’s favourite Allerism, and one that seems particularly appropriate for this week’s blog entry, however, is the time tested slogan: “the organ does the text”.  

    And what else did your Thursday of 2nd week have in store?

    After Staff Choir I managed to squeeze in a bit of work before preparing for Mixed Choir rehearsal for evensong at 4.45pm. Our music tonight featured two double choir unaccompanied pieces (Holst Nunc Dimittis and Brahms Wenn Ein Starker) to fit in with the Oxford Lieder Festival that’s going on until Saturday 29th October around the city, along with a chant Magnificat which I harmonised on the organ. We were rewarded for this rather challenging repertoire so soon into term by a very strong formal hall; blue cheese risotto, braised steak and syrup sponge pudding. On Thursdays we follow formal with a cheeky one hour rehearsal to look ahead to music that’s coming up; today we focused on the Fauré Requiem which we are performing at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy in London on Wednesday 16th November, along with assorted choral favourites.

    Sounds like you’ve had a busy day Dan!

    Indeed, it never stops (!) – it’s all great fun though. And, luckily, our newly appointed choir social sec Dom arranged a post-rehearsal cocktail night tonight so we could all blow off some steam!

    Next Week: The life of Worcester Choral Scholars through photos

    The Staff Choir performing on Nuffield Lawn in 2015. Photo credit: Dominic Yeo

    Prospective applicants of organ awards should seek more information at this link.

    Please see http://www.brandenburg.org.uk/tickets/wed-16-nov-7pm for details of our upcoming concert in London, mentioned above.

  • 1st Week Choir Blog: Freshers, Fun and Farrant

    WorcesterWelcome to our new choir blog! For those who aren’t familiar with the Worcester Chapel choirs, there are two choirs (one with boy choristers and one with sopranos) who sing both separately and combined, totalling four sung services a week. Rehearsals happen before evensong and also on Thursday evenings, and individual singing lessons are available for scholars during term. The atmosphere in choir is very friendly; we eat together after each service (a 3-course meal in hall) and have regular socials. Alongside our weekly service schedule we often sing for special events and concerts which sometimes take us out of Oxford to locations such as London, Worcester, and Faversham. Recent summer tours have included Rome, Puglia, and Nice.

    It’s been a busy start to the year for the choir, what with three evensongs and a Eucharist already under our belt, along with rehearsals, a gaudy, and a funeral service for a Worcester tutor (not to mention a few cheeky trips to the college bar). On Saturday of Freshers’ Week we welcomed prospective new members at an open rehearsal and evensong. Lots of freshers and students from college and the wider university came along and we were lucky enough to boost our ranks through this. After a Eucharist service with music by Byrd and Farrant last Thursday, two of our new choral scholars, Gabby and Polly, spoke to us about how they have found the start of term…

    How have you found the first couple of weeks?9-tuesday

    Gabby: I think it’s a really great community, everyone’s so close and supportive of each other. We’re doing some really great rep this term – I’m excited for what’s in my folder!

    Polly: Everyone’s been really friendly, even though I joined after some of the others, at the open evensong. It’s very welcoming and I think it will be a good year.

    What are you most looking forward to in choir?

    Gabby: I’m really looking forward to the Christmas services; it’s one of my favourite times of year and so I think it will be really special. My favourite Christmas carol is Hark the Herald, because of the fantastic soprano descant.

    Polly: I’ve never been in a chapel choir before so I’m looking forward to singing services; it will be an exciting new experience.

    What first attracted you to singing with us at Worcester?Worcester Chapel Choir

    Gabby: I applied to Worcester College because of the soprano choral scholarships, and because everyone was really friendly at the open day. Also the chapel is lovely!

    Polly: Everyone sounded great at the open evensong so I thought I’d audition. It was one of the less intimidating auditions I’ve done thankfully.

    Describe choir in three words:

    Gabby: Dining, friendly and gaudy (and maybe drinking!)

    Polly: Welcoming, fun and Brahms.

     

    That’s it from us for this week. Stay tuned for all the latest updates from Worcester chapel choir!

    Next week: A day in the life of an organ scholar! We’ll be delving into the secret life of this fascinating species…

  • Choral award auditions

    In September, the college welcomed applicants for choral awards for entry in 2017 and 2018 (for deferred entry). Students from different parts of the country stayed in the college and got a feel for living in college, with some staying in the medieval cottages in the front quad, now some of the oldest inhabited buildings in Oxford. 

    On Tuesday evening, following the auditions, candidates took part in a sung compline in the college chapel, an office sung by the choral scholars each week during term time. 

    Choral scholarships at Worcester college offer free singing lessons, free meals after each service, a stipend of £200, as well as the opportunity to tour nationally and internationally, give concerts, and take part in recordings and broadcasts. 

    Entry to the choir is by audition through the central university choral award auditions. A further set of auditions is held each October at the start of the academic year. 

    At other times of the year, singers are encouraged to contact the Director of Chapel Music, Thomas Allery (thomas.allery@worc.ox.ac.uk). 

    Choral services resume on October 9th. 

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