Music

O Holy Night’ – Music for Christmas
William Byrd Sing joyfully
Josef Haydn​​​​ Gloria (Missa Sancti Nicolai)
W A Mozart Laudate Dominum
Benjamin Britten A Hymn to the Virgin
Organ Solo:
J.S.Bach Prelude & Fugue in G BWV 541
Herbert Howells A Spotless Rose
Dobrinka Tabakova Alma Redemptoris Mater
Trad German arr. R Pearsall ​In dulci jubilo
Harold Darke In the bleak midwinter
Arr. David Willcocks ​​​Once in royal David’s city
Orlando di Lassus Omnes de Saba venient
Jean Mouton Nesciens Mater
Bob Chilcott​​​​ Shepherd’s Carol
John Gardner ​​​​ A Gallery Carol
Adolph Adam (arr. J Rutter) O holy night!
Organ Solo:
Louis Vierne Final (Symphonie 1)
Ralph Vaughan Williams ​​Fantasia on Christmas Carols
“the superb performances are characterised by a phenomenal sense of control and restraint, with every note carefully crafted and bathed in the radiant acoustic of the college chapel” Church Music Quarterly, March 2014
“Another choral hit with this exceptional and fascinating collection themed around musical representations of the Virgin Mary. And once again, Merton College Choir is the immaculate vehicle for performances that encompass the old and the new.”
— The Scotsman, January 2015, FIVE STARS
“Well performed, beautifully sung and exquisitely recorded. Who could ask for anything more?”
Gramophone, April 2016
BIOGRAPHY
The Choir of Merton College is one of Oxford’s leading mixed-voice choirs and sings the liturgies, during term-time, in the thirteenth century chapel. The thirty undergraduates and postgraduates read a number of different subjects and are ordinarily members of Merton College. Outside term, the choir tours regularly, most recently visiting Sweden, France and the USA. Performances in 2016 included Mozart’s Requiem in Toulouse, and engagements at Washington National Cathedral and St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York and in 2017 the choir sang the first ever Anglican Service in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Recent concert performances in the UK have included Duruflé’s Requiem in Gloucester Cathedral as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival, Tallis’s Spem in alium in Cambridge, Oxford and London, and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. The choir regularly appears in London at St John’s, Smith Square, The Cadogan Hall and The Temple Church.
Described by Gramophone as “one of the UK’s finest choral ensembles”, the choir’s recordings are on the Delphian label and have been widely acclaimed. The first release in 2011 was named ‘Gramophone Editor’s Choice’ and the most recent disc was a 2016 ‘Gramophone Critics’ Choice’. The choir regularly broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 live from Merton College Chapel, and in 2013 was featured in the BBC series Music & the Monarchy.

Merton College Choir has demonstrated a strong commitment to contemporary music, and has held a new music partnership with Choir & Organ magazine and has collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Society as part of its ‘Encore’ scheme. The choir has recently premiered new works from Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, MacMillan, Tabakova, Tavener and Weir and in April 2014 gave the world premiere performances of Gabriel Jackson’s Passion in Oxford and New York.

Benjamin Nicholas is Reed Rubin Organist & Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford and Principal Conductor-Designate of The Oxford Bach Choir. As a conductor he has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, The BBC Singers and The Holst Singers. Benjamin Nicholas has been involved in the commissioning of a great many works, and conducted the premieres of Charlotte Bray’s Bach Re-imagined in Southwark Cathedral with the City of London Sinfonia, Howard Goodall’s Veni Sancte Spiritus in Westminster Abbey. He was elected a Bodley Fellow of Merton in 2018.