2018-08-01
A new composition was commissioned especially for the tour from the young Sydney-based composer Alice Chance. It is a setting of the Revd Lenore Parker’s Thanksgiving for Australia and, having recorded the piece in Oxford at the end of the tour, the Choir will be giving the world premiere at Evensong in the College Chapel at 5pm on Sunday 5 August. We are delighted that Alice is flying down from Sydney for the service, and it is wonderful that Lenore has agreed to come and preach the sermon. Please come and join the Chapel community for this uplifting service!
“This was a wonderful opportunity for the Choir, both for the students to experience Europe but also for us to showcase the College internationally,” says Director of Music, Chris Watson.
“We couldn’t have managed the tour without the generosity of our alumni and friends, for which we are extremely grateful.”
For choristers Beatrice Harris-Hart and Phillipa McQuinn, the tour was a life-changing opportunity to perform at some of the most famous cathedrals and churches across Europe.
One of Beatrice’s tour highlights was performing and singing with her friends at St Paul’s Cathedral.
“When perhaps I was meant to be following our conductor Chris, I found myself staring at the far off, gigantic paintings on the cathedral ceiling. I was in awe of where I was, what I was singing and who I was with. A singular and small moment of appreciation I shall never forget,” says Beatrice.
Meanwhile, the opportunity for Phillipa to perform in Europe has given her a taste of what could be a future career path.
“I feel so privileged to have been able to sing at some of the most incredible chapels and cathedrals in the world. It gave me the opportunity to experience what life is like as a performer in Europe and the United Kingdom and could, potentially, be like for me in the future,” says Philippa.
There is another opportunity to hear the Choir at a lunchtime concert on Thursday 18 October at 1.10pm in the Trinity Chapel.
“This was a wonderful opportunity for the Choir, both for the students to experience Europe but also for us to showcase the College internationally,” says Director of Music, Chris Watson.
“We couldn’t have managed the tour without the generosity of our alumni and friends, for which we are extremely grateful.”
For choristers Beatrice Harris-Hart and Phillipa McQuinn, the tour was a life-changing opportunity to perform at some of the most famous cathedrals and churches across Europe.
One of Beatrice’s tour highlights was performing and singing with her friends at St Paul’s Cathedral.
“When perhaps I was meant to be following our conductor Chris, I found myself staring at the far off, gigantic paintings on the cathedral ceiling. I was in awe of where I was, what I was singing and who I was with. A singular and small moment of appreciation I shall never forget,” says Beatrice.
Meanwhile, the opportunity for Phillipa to perform in Europe has given her a taste of what could be a future career path.
“I feel so privileged to have been able to sing at some of the most incredible chapels and cathedrals in the world. It gave me the opportunity to experience what life is like as a performer in Europe and the United Kingdom and could, potentially, be like for me in the future,” says Philippa.
There is another opportunity to hear the Choir at a lunchtime concert on Thursday 18 October at 1.10pm in the Trinity Chapel.