The first video recording of our concerts and services in America has now been uploaded to YouTube: 

The Choir of Somerville College (conducted by David Crown and accompanied by organist Robert Smith) sings Charles Wood's Expectans expectavi at Washington National Cathedral.

UPDATE

More live recordings from our US tour:

Charles Wood: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D
(Washington National Cathedral, 1 July 2014)

Arthur Somervell: O Saviour of the World
Andrew Carter: Go before us, O Lord
(St. John's Episcopal Church, Northampton/Massachusetts, 5 July 2014)

John Joubert: O Lorde, the maker of al thing
Paul Simon: Bridge over troubled water (arr. Sechler)
(Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Wilmington/Delaware, 3 July 2014)

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

On Thursday at 1:15pm Robert Smith (Organ Scholar) will be playing a recital on the brand-new Dobson organ at Merton Chapel. His programme will feature works by Bach, Duruflé, Vierne, Pärt and Sousa. See the Facebook event page for further details.

One day later (Friday at 1:15pm) he will be playing a piano recital at Somerville College Chapel as part of Somerville Music Society's lunchtime recital series.

Today's service at 6pm will be the last chapel service of term and a chance for all members of the college community to come together to celebrate the end of another year at Somerville and say goodbye to those who are leaving (including Chapel Director Fiona Gatty and several members of the choir).

The service will feature the usual mix of speeches, readings and music. The choir will be singing works by Hassler, Wood, Händel, Guest and Rutter. The service will also include two hymns: the college song (Omnes laetae nunc sodales) and Jerusalem. The organ voluntary will be Robert Smith's arrangement of Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever, a preview of the choir's upcoming US tour.

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.

On Friday at 6pm the Choir of Somerville College and Somerville Music Society will be presenting West End Favourites and Film Music, a gala concert in aid of the choir's US tour.

Members of the Choir of Somerville College, Robert Smith (organ/piano) and special guest star David Crown (baritone) perform a selection of favourite show tunes and film music. The concert features extracts from The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cats, Star Wars and Show Boat as well as 'One Day More', the rousing finale from Act I of Les Misérables. See the Facebook event for full details of the programme.

Performers:
Ruth Akinradewo (soprano), Ian Buchanan (tenor), David Crown (baritone/conductor), Katie Jeffries-Harris (mezzo-soprano), Matt Kerr (baritone), Douglas Knight (piano). Christoph Schnedermann (bass), Stefan Schwarz (baritone), Robert Smith (organ/piano), Alexandra Worrell (soprano), Emily Winkler (soprano), Orly Watson (piano)

Admission is free. There will be a retiring collection in aid of the choir's summer tour.

Nick Machin (Organ Scholar Elect), will be performing his first solo recital at Somerville Chapel on Friday at 1:15pm.

The programme includes piano works by Turina, Liszt, Debussy and Shostakovich as well as organ music by Berkeley, Stanford and Widor. Please see the Facebook event page for further details.

The recital will be part of the 150 for 150 Recital Challenge in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Royal College of Organists. Somerville will be the only Oxbridge college to contribute two events to this series: Nick Machin's Friday lunchtime recital and an evening recital featuring Robert Smith (Organ Scholar) at the Auenkirche (Berlin) in August.

On Saturday, 26th April 2014, the Choir of Somerville College will be offering a workshop and a short concert as part of the university's annual Choral Open Day.

At 5pm potential applicants can join our rehearsal with David Crown (Director of Chapel Music) and Robert Smith (Organ Scholar). We will be preparing a concert performance of Fauré's Requiem, which will start at 6:15pm. The concert is open to the public and admission is free.

The workshop and the concert will be an excellent opportunity to work with one of the university's leading mixed-voice college choirs and to find out more about Oxford's only non-denominational chapel. Its interfaith ethos gives the choir a unique advantage: Unlike other Oxbridge choirs, the Choir of Somerville College is not restricted to the Anglican liturgy, but sings a much wider range of sacred choral works from all kinds of religious traditions as well as secular music.

Prospective applicants who want to find out what it's really like to be a choral scholat at Somerville, should read the short profiles of three of our singers. Potential future organ scholars may want to have a look at the organ specification and the sample recordings of the chapel's fine Harrison organ on this page as well as our current organ scholar's website.