MUSIC IN THE CLOISTERS

THE CHOIR OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD

From the Informator Choristarum

SUMMER 2013

Welcome to this, the first newsletter dedicated to the activities and pursuits of Magdalen College Choir. For over twenty-four hours a week during full term, one may find the Choir rehearsing or performing somewhere within the College. The strains of a Clerk learning new music in the Song School can often be heard wafting around the Cloister; the organists spend half their lives in the loft preparing music for services; the Choristers’ early morning rehearsal routine acts as a regular alarm clock for the President and Mrs Clary. The College is alive with music and the Chapel continues to be the beating heart of the community, sitting as it does at the physical heart of the College, its regular services providing a direct link to generations of Magdalen students who have gone before us.

Whilst the Choir’s raison d’être is to provide music for the regular liturgies within the Chapel, its profile and renown away from the College is such that there are many activities and events which may be of interest to Old Members all over the world. I hope that this biannual newsletter will go some way towards keeping interested Old Members up to speed with, and a part of, what we do. As the current Informator Choristarum, I see my role as both guardian and innovator of a tradition and cultural icon which stretches back centuries.

I am always delighted to meet Old Members of the College, former Clerks, Choristers and Organists; please do come and say hello if you’re passing through Oxford. If you think you might be able to help with specific touring or recording projects, or if you know of likely applicants to the College who might also be suitably capable singers or organists, please do be in touch. Membership of the College and the Choir is for life; I hope you will feel welcome to be a part of the Choir community in any way you wish or are able.

Daniel Hyde

MUSIC IN THE CLOISTERS

In recent years, the Choir has pursued particular projects as a means of developing its links with a number of orchestras and ensembles, performing both within College and Oxford as well as further afield. The Britten Sinfonia, resident in Cambridge, and one of the country’s leading chamber orchestras, accompanied the Choir in a Haydn concert at the Sheldonian in 2010; multiple collaborations with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led to a sell-out Christmas concert at Cadogan Hall in December 2010 and a moving Passiontide concert at the church which bears the ensemble’s name in April 2011.

Closer to home, there have been performances of Bach’s ‘St John Passion’ with the Oxford Philomusica and Oxford Baroque, featuring former Clerks John Mark Ainsley, Billy Purefoy and Giles Underwood amongst the soloists. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment joined the Choir for a gala concert in celebration of the Faculty of Music in November 2012, and most recently we have enjoyed the company and good humour of some of the Players of the Orchestra of the Sixteen, kindly made possible by former Clerk and Honorary Fellow, Harry Christophers.

On a more intimate level, and as part of the services offered up in the College Chapel, it has been a particular treat to welcome Professor Laurence Dreyfus and Phantasm, the College’s Consort in Residence, to accompany the Choir at Evensong once a term. This has enabled a wide ranging exploration of the repertoire available for Choir and Viol Consort. With some of the finest chamber musicians from three different countries, these services and all our concert work has proved invaluable to the cultural, spiritual, musical and educational pursuits of the

Concerts and Collaborations

Choir and the Chapel. Not in any way detracting from our core duty to provide music for the services held in Chapel, these projects have also served to further raise the Choir’s profile away from Oxford.

In the coming year, we shall be giving Christmas concerts with the International Baroque Players before making a short tour to Holland just before Christmas; a performance of the Mozart ‘Requiem’ with the Philomusica is scheduled for 22 February 2014, followed the next day by further performances in Chapel with Phantasm. And funding-permitting, the Choir will be making its first long-haul tour in a number of years, representing the University at an alumnae weekend in Hong Kong in late March, before touring in China.

All of these events, as well as our regular chapel services, are open to all. Please do spread the word far and wide; we shall do our best to keep Old Members fully up to date on the Choir’s plans, and it is always a pleasure to meet people associated with the Choir both in College and out on the road.

Valete:Choristers: Isaac Castella-McDonald (Head Chorister); Nicholas Ng (Waynflete Chorister); Angus White.

Academical Clerks: Joshua Copeland, University of Notre Dame on the South Bank, freelance musician in London; Robin Culshaw, post-graduate studies in English, Cambridge University; Benjamin Durrant, completion of Biochemistry degree, Magdalen College, Oxford; Robin Horgan, teacher, St John’s College School, Cambridge.

Organ Scholar: David Gerrard, post-graduate studies, University of Edinburgh.

Salvete:Probationers: Thomas Salter, MCS; Zane Soonawalla, MCS; Joe Travis, MCS; Max Wedmore, Abingdon Preparatory School.

Academical Clerks: Lewis Spring, Abingdon School; Benedict Flinn, Uppingham School; Sebastian Lello, Eton College;Caspar Barrie, London Oratory; Joshua Newman, Chetham’s School of Music.

Organ Scholar:Anna Lapwood, Oxford High School.

MUSIC IN THE CLOISTERS

Christmas from Magdalen The Choir’s latest recording is due for its official release this October. A selection of lesser-known and more contemporary carols, it is available to order from the College Bursary, and by email marilyn.evans@magd.ox.ac.uk

Forthcoming releases this year will include a disc of anthems by John Ward, featuring the Choir and Phantasm, the College’s Consort in Residence.

Most recently, during the summer months, the Choir has recorded Buxtehude’s series of cantatas ‘Membra Jesu nostri’. This will be the first release due next year on the label of the Royal Opera House.

Recordings

MUSIC IN THE CLOISTERS

Thomas Allery

Assistant Organist and Tutor in Charge of Choristers

Tom joined Magdalen in September 2012, taking up a combined role at both the College and the College School.

As the person responsible for the Choristers’ pastoral and musical welfare, Tom has a daily responsibility to support the Choristers in their work. In College, he works alongside Daniel Hyde and the Organ Scholar, and is closely involved in the training of the Choristers; he takes particular responsibillity for the development of the Probationers, and accompanies the Choir on the organ. Over at the College School he teaches the Choristers music theory to support their singing, and is heavily involved in the wider activities of the school music department.

A former organ scholar of Worcester College, Tom spent a year pursuing post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music before returning to Oxford. One of the lesser-known facts about Tom is that he is learning to swing dance.....

Introducing

Friends of the Choir

The College is grateful to a number of individuals for their support of the music in the Chapel. Anyone interested in supporting the work of the choir should

contactJacky Barratt on 01865 286701 or by email at choir@magd.ox.ac.uk for more information.

The Choir newsletter will be produced twice a year in the Summer (October) and the Spring (March). It will be posted on the newly launched Choir pages of the Magdalen College website along with other information about choir events and recordings. If you would like to recieve this newsletter in hard copy,

please emailMrs Barratt and she will add your name to a postal list.

Clerks’ Reunion, 22 June 2013

A major date in the Choir calendar during the last academic year saw 67 former clerks and organists return to College for a Choir Reunion on 22 June 2013. The first such event to be held in many years, it was an opportunity for Old Members to visit the College and the Chapel specifically to celebrate the Choir. It was an especial pleasure to welcome back former Informator Dr Bill Ives and his wife Janette; and as ever, Molly Rose quite rightly stole the show and delighted many Old Members who had not seen her for some fifty years or so.

The afternoon began with tea in the Cloisters before an ‘open’ rehearsal of the current Choir. Not wishing to short-change those who had travelled far and wide to attend, there was an opportunity for former members of the Choir to join the current Choir in singing John Stainer’s ‘God so loved the world’ at the end of the service. Very much a celebration of Magdalen music, the repertoire choices for the service were all works of former Informatores and organ scholars ranging from the early sixteenth-century to the present day.

In the evening there was a celebratory dinner in Hall at which the President and Daniel Hyde spoke about the life and work of the Choir as an educational and cultural emblem of the wider work of the College and University. Paul Brough, organ scholar from 1983 - 6 and now Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers, spoke warmly about the value of the choir experience and the need for it to be safeguarded and enhanced for the future.

Whilst it is unlikely to be something that happens every year, we hope that a choir reunion will become a biennial or triennial event. Grateful thanks must go to Joanna Karatzios and her team in the Development Office, and colleagues in the catering department for making this such a special occasion.