Sing with us

We are an auditioning chamber choir of about 35 keen amateur singers, performing modern and traditional choral music to a high standard. Our repertoire is eclectic, featuring both modern and traditional choral music combined innovatively in thematic programmes.

We give four concerts a year, three of them in Oxford in some of the city's most beautiful venues, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and the college chapels of Exeter, Queen’s, Merton and Keble.  Our annual away day has taken us to historic locations in London, Windsor and Adderbury, and in 2023 we are doing a choral exchange with Leiden English Choir, performing in both Oxford and Leiden (The Netherlands).  You can find out more about the choir and see examples of past concerts here: About us and Concert archive, as well as a list of our planned concerts in the near future.

We are always keen to hear from interested singers and while we are well-balanced and don’t have any particular shortages at this time, we are always interested in hearing from excellent singers who will make a difference to the group. If you’ll be an asset we will try and find you a space. We also run reserve lists for when regular members are unavoidably unavailable for a particular programme, and which we can draw upon when vacancies do arise.

What to expect

The City of Oxford Choir is committed to performing to a high standard, and therefore we expect our members to attend rehearsals regularly, to be able to sight-read, and to spend some time outside rehearsal learning music as necessary. 

We rehearse weekly during term-time on Mondays from 7.30pm until 9.30pm at All Saints Church in Headington. Rehearsals are conducted by our Musical Director, Duncan Aspden, and often include sessions with our vocal coach, Billy Purefoy.  We expect members to sing in all of the year's concerts so far as possible excepting unavoidable conflicts, illness, etc. There are often opportunities to sing solos and in small groups.  

We're serious about our music, but we're also a friendly group of people from all ages and walks of life who really like to sing.  After rehearsals, we sometimes head to the pub, and there are other social events after concerts and throughout the year.

For more details, please see our information for new members

Next steps

If this sound like your kind of choir, we would love to hear from you.  Please email our Secretary, Sarah Tanton, letting us know your vocal part and your experience, and we'll arrange for you to come to a rehearsal to see what you think.  If you decide you would like to join, we'll arrange an audition on the same night or another Monday with Duncan Aspden, our Director of Music.

The audition

The audition shouldn't be seen as an ordeal.  It's an opportunity for our Musical Director to get to know your voice, its range and tonal qualities, and to see whether you'll fit in with the sound and pace of the choir.  Please prepare a short piece/extract and you may also sing something from the rehearsal. You will also be asked to do a few vocal and aural exercises and to sight-read a short extract.