Search - The Choir of Christ Church - Oxford :: A Tudor Christmas

A Tudor Christmas Imagine yourself in the fine surroundings of the Great Hall of Christ Church, Oxford, with a programme of Tudor sacred and secular music including music by Henry VIII, one of Christ Church's founders, and choral works associated with Christ Church during its first century. Although Christ Church Cathedral Choir is 500 years old, it is justly famous for the youthfulness of its sound and its daring and adventurous musical programming. Unique in the world as both Cathedral and College choir, the intimate acoustic of its musical home, Oxford's 12th-century Cathedral, has given it a relationship with early sacred music, which is second to none. There has been a choir at Christ Church since 1526 when John Taverner became Organist and Master of the Choristers. The statutes of Cardinal Wolsey's magnificent college, which he called 'Cardinal College', envisaged thirty singing priests and twenty clerks, in addition to sixteen choristers. Before the College could be completed Wolsey fell from favour and died in 1530. Henry VIII's new foundation uniting the See of Oxford with the College, was now called Christ Church, and became the Cathedral Church of the diocese. The present choir consists of sixteen boy choristers and twelve men, of whom six are professional Lay Clerks, whilst the remainder are undergraduates (Academical Clerks) at Christ Church, reading for degrees in a wide variety of subjects. Under its director Stephen Darlington, the choir has maintained a position as one of the top Cathedral choirs in the country achieving particular recognition for music of the 16th and 20th centuries. Apart from Cathedral services, the choir has a busy programme of concert tours and recording both in the UK and abroad. This has led to the choir's recognition throughout the world for its excellence. It has performed regularly in all the major London concert venues, appearing at the Proms, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and St. John's Smith Square as well as the London Palladium. There have been extensive tours throughout Europe (East and West), to America (North and South), and Australia. The choir has a strong history of recording, involving collaboration with many orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta