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 Pecksmith (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 Pecksmith (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 Pecksmith (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 Pecksmith (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 scholar 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.

A video recording of a selection of choruses and chorales from the choir's two performances of Bach's St John Passion in Woodstock and Oxford (14/16 March 2014) is now available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3TvhXQ_6k.

The recording also features the Musicians of the Dreaming Spires, Robert Pecksmith (organ/harpsichord continuo), David Crown (conductor) and Christoph Schnedermann (bass - Pontius Pilate).

We are pleased to announce that our crowdfunding campaign on Hubbub has come to a successful conclusion: Over the last few weeks we have raised £6,000 for our choir tour.

We are very grateful to Somerville's Development Office for all the support and we would like to thank our generous donors who are now listed on our new Friends of Somerville Choir page.

Further details of our US tour will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

At the end of Hilary Term the choir will be singing two performances of Johann Sebastian Bach's Johannes-Passion, BWV 245. The concerts will feature the Musicians of the Dreaming Spires, an Oxford-based professional chamber orchestra, and soloists from the Royal College of Music, London. Tickets (£10) are available from our online ticket shop.

Click here to download the programme.

1st Performance:
Friday 14th March 2014, 7:45pm, St Mary Magdalene Church, Woodstock
Click here to buy tickets

2nd Performance:
Sunday 16th March 2014, 7pm, Somerville College Chapel, Oxford
Click here to buy tickets

The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford
Musicians of the Dreaming Spires
Robert Peckmith, organ/harpsichord
David Crown, conductor

Soloists: William Wallace (tenor - Evangelist), Simon Grange (bass - Christus), Rebecca Hardwick (soprano), Victoria Pym (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Doody (tenor), Jerome Knox (baritone)

Our fundraising for the tour to the USA begins today! For the next 20 days we’re looking to you for donations to get to our goal of £6,000 in order to make this possible. 

If we succeed, it will be a landmark in our development and a fantastic opportunity for us to perform in world renowned venues across the east coast including Washington National Cathedral and Trinity Church, Boston.

We've been investing huge efforts and enthusiasm into this project, and your support will really give us the final push we need to make it happen: https://hubbub.net/p/somervillechoirtour

On Wednesday our organ scholar Robert Pecksmith will be playing a lunchtime recital on Oxford Town Hall's 1897 Father Willis organ.

The programme includes works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Elgar and Reger as well as Patrick Gowers and John Williams (arr. Pecksmith).

Oxford Town Hall
Lunchtime Organ Recital Series
Wednesday 19th February 2014
12:00 - 12:55pm

Tickets are £4 and come with complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits.

See his website and the Facebook event page for further details.

The latest addition to our YouTube channel, a live recording from our service at Coventry Cathedral:

Herbert Howells
A Hymn for St. Cecilia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVWOAjRYZRQ

On Saturday the choir will be singing choral evensong at Coventry Cathedral.

The music for the service includes Farrant's Hide not thou thy face, Rubbra's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in A flat as well as Howells' A Hymn for St. Cecilia.

The organ voluntary will be the final movement of Vierne's Organ Symphony No. 1 in D minor.

Saturday 1st February 2014, 4pm
Evensong with the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford
David Crown, conductor
Robert Pecksmith, organ