The academic year 2018/2019 has culminated with a packed last few days for our choir. On Thursday we had the final concert of term, and on Friday it was leavers' dinner, at which we sang and said our goodbyes to some of our longest-standing choir members.

Then, on the Saturday, we had our very first choir reunion. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces back again and we are already looking forward to the next reunion in 2 years’ time.
 
As we are now facing a big gap until the beginning of the new academic year, Somerville Choir will be embarking on a mini-tour of the Channel Islands this month, from the 9th to 14th August!
​
Starting with a small concert at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Centre on 10 August, we'll be going on to perform at the Chateau on 11 August – both these events will take place in Jersey. Then, on August 12th we'll catch the ferry to Guernsey, where we will perform in the Town Church that evening.

It is the beginning of a new term and, exam season notwithstanding, the Choir of Somerville College has some exciting events planned. Our upcoming concerts for the next two months are as follows:
 
06/05/2019
Performance as part of the Little Clarendon Street Festival, 7.30 pm
 
07/05/2019
Organ Scholar Recital, 6pm, Somerville College Chapel
 
08/06/2019
Commemoration Service, 2.15 pm, Somerville College Chapel
 
20/06/2019
Concert (Love and Loss: Madrigals old and new), 8 pm, Somerville College Chapel
 
Additionally, we are excited to announce that our first Choir Reunion will be taking place this term on Saturday, June 22nd. This event is aimed at any former members of Somerville College Choir since 2001 and will include a concert at 5.30 pm in the College Chapel.
 
Also, anyone attending the choral and organ scholarship open day on Saturday 11/05/2019, do make sure to reach out to our Director of Chapel Music, Will Dawes, who will be running the warm-up session. He will be happy to answer any questions you might have about joining Somerville College Choir.

We are delighted to let you know that there will be a reunion for all former members of the Choir of Somerville College since 2001 taking place in the College on Saturday 22nd June from 2pm onwards. The event will be based around an informal concert in the College Chapel at 5.30pm that afternoon, with arrival at the college between 2pm and 2.30pm, followed by a rehearsal and pre-concert refreshments.  Half of the concert will be given by the current choir, with choir alumni invited to join for the remainder of the concert.
 
Guests are more than welcome to attend, but if you'll be bringing guests please email choir@some.ox.ac.uk before the 10th June to confirm names and numbers so that we can have enough refreshments available. There will be no charge for those attending the day, aside from what is spent at the Royal Oak after the concert, where food and drinks will be available for purchase.
 
We'll also publish a document on this website, detailing names of those we're in touch with, confirmed attendees, and names of people for whom we have no contact details.  Do please let us know if you can help tracking people down, as we’re very keen to re-establish contact with alumni.
 
Please click here to RSVP. Even if you’re not able to join us on this occasion, it would be great to hear from you so that we can update our records and so that the 2021 event (the 20th anniversary of the choir’s formation) can be at least as successful!

Somerville College Choir will be hosting a 24-Hour Music Marathon in the College Chapel this Friday and Saturday, in order to raise funds for its tour to India, taking place in December.

Featuring performances by members of Somerville College, the marathon will incorporate a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from jazz standards to organ symphonies, from an open-mic session and lute songs. The final running order will be confirmed here and on Facebook on Thursday evening.
​
Entry will be by donation, with all the money raised going towards the tour more details of which can be found here. If you can't attend in person, do check out the live stream.

Schedule

Friday 12th October
2pm-3pm - Opening Concert (featuring the full choir and solo recitals)
3pm-4:20pm - Solo Singing Recital (featuring members of the choir)
4:20pm-5:45pm - Instrumental Concert (featuring marimba, percussion, lute and recorder duets, and organ works)
5:45pm-7pm - Instrumental Recital (featuring clarinet, voice and piano)
7pm-8pm - Chinese Instruments Concert
8pm-9pm - Organ recital, performed by the college's two organ scholars
9pm-9:40pm - Lute Song Recital (featuring members of the choir accompanied by Quentin Miller)
9:40pm-10:10pm - Song Recital: Director of Chapel Music Will Dawes sings Finzi's Earth, Air and Rain
10:30pm-11pm - Jazz Standards (performed by choir members Max and Eloise)
11pm-12am - Piano recital (featuring works by Granados, Makholm and Beethoven)

Saturday 13th October
12am-12:30am - Gu-qin Music (performed by Xiaoyi Ouyang)
12:30am-7am - Various piano music throughout the night (performed by Alastair Flynn, Andrei Diaconu, Xiaoyi Ouyang, Aidan Quinlan, Robin Leach, Jack Pegg, Ilona Clayton and Joel Summerfield)
7am-7:35am - Instrumental Recital by Andy Wang and Emma Line
7:35am-9am - Leanne Yau performs various pop, acoustic and folk songs accompanied by guitar
9am-9:30am - Trumpet Duets (performed by Aidan Quinlan and Ellen King)
9:30am -10am - Organ Recital by Rory Moules
10am-11am - Singthrough of European Sacred Music, led by Will Dawes
11am - 12pm - Singthrough of Popular Songs from the Musicals
12pm-1pm - Piano Recital by Marianna Kapsetaki (featuring 10 Preludes, op. 23, by Rachmaninoff)
1pm-2pm - Closing Recital, featuring the full choir and solo works including Dichterliebe (performed by Will Dawes) and Frauenliebe und -leben (performed by Georgie Malcolm)

​Click here to download a PDF file of the full programme detailing the specific performers and repertoire in each recital.

Don't miss the choir's last public performance this term, in concert alongside the Somerville College Orchestra.

The concert features a programme ranging from Eric Whitacre's gorgeous Five Hebrew Love Songs to Johann Sebastian Bach's timeless Double Violin Concerto.

Thursday 9th March 2017, 7:30pm
Somerville College Chapel

Entry is free and there will be a drinks reception after the concert. Click here to see the Facebook event page.

On Saturday 26th November 2016 at 7:15pm the Choir and Orchestra of Somerville College, Oxford, will be performing Haydn's Symphony No. 88 in G major and Vivaldi's Gloria at Somerville Chapel. The concert will be conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton, Somerville's Senior Music Associate and Interim Director of Chapel Music.

Somerville College Orchestra
Violin: Saffiyah Keig-Momin, Andy Wang, Hannah Thompson, Robert Harvey Wood, Jessica Crompton, Imogen Lawlor, Madeleine Eastwood, Victoria Gill, Eloise Kenny Rider
Viola: Colin Albery, Claire Valence
Cello: Amanda Thomas, Emily Hill, Shivake Shar
Flute: Catrin Haberfield, Sati Aizawa, Emma Line
Oboe: Emma Butterworth, Benjamin Skipp
Bassoon: Hannah Sowter, Nicola Ede
Horn: Robert Kirk, Bradley Young
Trumpet: Harry McSwaine, Aidan Quinlan
Timpani: Giordan Price
Harpsichord: Nick Machin (Organ Scholar)

The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford
Soprano: Anna Bett, Hannah Sowter, Yolanda Shamash, Alexandra Worrell, Carys Miller, Eleanor Parker, Ruth Akinradewo, Katie Bastiman, Natasha Frank, Eloise Kenny-Ryder, Eve Althaus
Alto: Emily Albery, Saffiyah Keig-Momin, Elizabeth Bosson, Amanda Thomas
Tenor: Joshua Grubb, Jamie Powe, Finn Strivens, Owen Thomas
Bass: Samuel Bruce, Giordan Price, Robert Harvey Wood, Aidan Quinlan

For the final concert of the Brandenburg Choral Festival of London’s 2016 Autumn Series, Benjamin Goodson's two choirs, the Lea Singers and the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford, will be joining forces for a concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London.

Tallis’ epic 40-part motet Spem in alium will be at the heart of this programme, and is always all the more memorable when sung in the atmospheric surroundings of a candlelit St. Martin’s. This performance will be framed by Schubert’s glorious Mass in G, and four choral gems by Bruckner and Brahms.

This concert will last approximately one hour without an interval. A combined ticket offer is available for this concert and the earlier performance at St Martin’s. Please contact the box office for details.

Thursday 17 November 2016, 9:30pm, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London
'Spem in alium' by candlelight
Works by Schubert, Tallis, Bruckner and Brahms
The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford
The Lea Singers
Michael Papadopoulos, organ
Benjamin Goodson, conductor

Click here to book tickets.

On Thursday 26th May at 7.30pm the Choir of Somerville College will give a concert of British and American choral music in Somerville’s Chapel.

The concert is eclectic, paying tribute to the diversity of the choral repertoire to have emerged from these two countries. The programme begins with music from the English Renaissance and ends with brand new music from some of America’s most exciting contemporary composers. All proceeds will count towards the choir’s fundraising efforts for their upcoming concert tour to New York and Washington in September 2016.

Please join us! 

Thursday 26th May, 7:30pm
Somerville College Chapel
 
Tickets from carys.miller@some.ox.ac.uk

Full programmes of all our six concerts and services in America are now available for download from the tour page.

In the first week of July we will be going on our most ambitious foreign tour so far: We will be performing three full-length evening concerts, two services and one organ recital in churches and cathedrals in Washington D.C., Delaware and Massachusetts.

Details of all our performances in the USA are now listed on the tour page. Full programmes and publicity material will be added to the page over the course of the next few weeks.

The concerts and services will feature 20 members of the Choir of Somerville College, David Crown (conductor) and Robert Smith (organist).

This US tour, which we have been organising since last summer, was made possible by the generous support of Somerville College and our friends.