News Archive - 2003
Evensong on Monday 24 March is dedicated to the memory of Queen Elizabeth I, who died on 24 March 1603. As Visitor of Christ Church she had a close connection with the College and so it seems particularly appropriate that she should be remembered in this service. All the music will be by William Byrd who was the greatest of the composers that flourished during her reign.
The Choir had a very busy Christmas.
In late November they undertook a prestigious trip to Paris as guest artists in the Festival of Sacred Art, giving concerts in Notre Dame and the L’Eglise de St Roch.
As well as their normal Christmas commitments in the Cathedral (which included an Advent Carol Service and two Services of Nine Lessons and Carols), the Choir gave two concerts in London, appearing in the BBC Christmas Classics concert in the Royal Festival Hall with Howard Goodall, and then a concert of seasonal music in St John’s Smith Square as part of Hazard Chase’s Christmas Festival. This concert included Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with harp accompaniment by Victoria Davies, currently an undergraduate at Christ Church.
In Oxford, the Choir also performed in the annual carol concert promoted by Music at Oxford, always an extremely popular event, and a sell-out charity concert in aid of the local hospice Helen House and Douglas House. More recently they presented a selection of choral and organ works to a full house at Marlborough College.
Two filming sessions took place shortly before Christmas. The first was for a series of programmes on Religion and Art presented by the Dean of Christ Church, the Very Revd. John Drury, which were broadcast on Channel 5 during the lead up to Christmas. The second, for a documentary about Robert Hooke which is due for transmission by the BBC.
On 26 January the Choir participated in a unique collaboration with King’s College Choir, Cambridge in a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with top international soloists, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur. This concert, in London’s Royal Festival Hall, was enthusiastically received by a packed audience.
The Choir always performs a sacred choral work in the Cathedral as part of the Holy Week programme. Traditionally this has been Bach’s St John Passion. As a direct consequence of the Royal Festival Hall concert, this year’s performance on Wednesday 16 April at 6.00 p.m. will be Bach’s St Matthew Passion with soloists Andrew Carwood (Evangelist) and Paul Miles-Kingston (Christus). The orchestra will be members of London Musici .
Following the disappointment that the BBC was unable to broadcast the live transmission of Choral Evensong from Christ Church on 13 November owing to technical difficulties, a new date has been arranged for Wednesday, 14 May. Unless ill fortune strikes twice, the service will be transmitted live at 4.00 p.m. on BBC Radio 3 and members of the public are of course welcome to attend.
Preparations are now well in hand for another exciting trip to France, this time as the major guests of the Festival International de Musique Sacrée in Lourdes, where the Choir will be performing two concerts, the first in the L’Eglise Paroissiale du Sacré Coeur on Thursday 24 April and the second in the Basilique Notre Dame du Rosaire on Friday 25 April.