About us
The City of Oxford Choir is a chamber choir of keen singers from all walks of life in and around Oxford.
Originally formed in 1977 to host a visiting choir from Leiden in the Netherlands, one of Oxford’s twin cities, the choir has gone from strength to strength and is widely regarded as one of the premier choirs in Oxford.
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Duncan Aspden has been Musical Director of the choir since 2005, and we are also lucky to regularly welcome to rehearsals vocal coach and professional countertenor William Purefoy.
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Have a listen to some recent recordings and look at our photo gallery.​
Performances
The choir gives four concerts a year both in Oxford and further afield.
In a city rich with historic performance spaces we are fortunate to have performed in Oxford’s Town Hall, the University Church, SJE Arts and several College chapels. We also perform outside of Oxford both locally (Abingdon, Windsor, London) and internationally (the Netherlands, Norway).
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In 2023 we were delighted to revisit our city twinning roots and participated in a choral exchange with The Leiden English Choir, performing our concert “To See a World” (featuring a world premiere by Hebe de Champeaux of the same name) in both cities. We also have an ongoing collaboration with a Norwegian choir, Chorale Oslo Selskap, who performed a joint concert with us in Oxford in 2022. We made the return trip to Oslo in 2024 and performed together in a concert of English and Norwegian repertoire.
Enjoy this excerpt of the City of Oxford Choir rehearsing Ola Gjeilo's setting of O Magnum Mysterium, Serenity. With Annelies Scott, cello.
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You can find more recordings on our YouTube channel.
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Read on for more information about our repertoire.
Repertoire
The choir’s rich and eclectic programmes span centuries and genres, reflecting our versatility and artistic depth. We programme a diverse range of sacred and secular music, both a capella or accompanied by organ, piano or instrumentalists. We frequently work with renowned musicians such as Anna Markland (piano), Stephen Grahl (organ) and Nick Roberts (cello).
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We are very aware of the gender imbalance that exists generally in concert programming and as such regularly perform works by female composers.
A selection of recently programmed works:
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Britten Rejoice in the Lamb
Cecilia McDowall Adore te devote
Boulanger Soir sur la plaine
Brahms Vier Quartette; Fünf Gesänge
Finzi Seven poems of Robert Bridges
Walton The Twelve
Alec Roth Earthrise
Libby Larson Beneath these Alien Stars
Eric Whitacre Sleep
Paulus The Road Home
René Clausen Tonight, Eternity Alone
Ola Gjeilo Phoenix Agnus Dei
Nystedt Immortal Bach
Zoe Martlew Karakia
Arvo Pärt Salve Regina
Jonathan Dove In Beauty May I Walk
Rodney Bennett A Farewell to Arms
Tavener Svyati
JS Bach Ich lasse dich nicht
Stanford Three Motets
Becky McGlade The Oak
Christmas:
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Matthew Martin I Sing of a Maiden
David Blackwell Lo, How a Rose e’er Blooming
Kerry Andrew Out of the Orient Crystal Skies
Gabriel Jackson The Christ-child
Thomas Hewitt-Jones What Child is This?
Will Todd My Lord has Come
Kerensa Briggs A Tender Shoot
Scheidt Puer Natus Est in Bethlehem
Victoria O Magnum Mysterium
Reena Esmail The Unexpected Early Hour
Jonathan Dove I Am The Day
Joseph Young The Owl
Bob Chilcott Gifts For The Child Of Winter
Sarah Quartel On This Silent Night
Caroline Shaw The Children’s Eye
Britten A Hymn To The Virgin
BE Boykin Coventry Carol
Duncan Aspden, Director of Music
Conductor Duncan Aspden leads a privileged life immersed in choral and vocal music, directing and accompanying singers for at least twenty concerts and around a hundred services each year.
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He is Associate Director of Music at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in London’s Mayfair (Farm Street Church), home to one of the UK’s busiest professional mixed choirs. There he shares directing and accompanying duties with David Graham (Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music). Duncan is also Director of Music of the City of Oxford Choir, Musical Director of Thame Chamber Choir, and Founder Conductor of Excalibur Voices. In 2010 with TCC he founded Thame Children’s Choir to bring high quality choral singing to the young people near his home. With these and many other ensembles he performs a wide repertoire from unaccompanied miniatures to major oratorios with leading soloists and orchestras.
Duncan has performed many times for BBC Radio and Television, has directed ensembles including I Fagiolini, the London Mozart Players and the English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble, conducted premieres of choral works by dozens of British composers and recorded widely. Duncan studied at Jesus College Cambridge and at the Royal Academy of Music. Starting out as an organist, he has held posts at four of England’s cathedrals.
William Purefoy, Vocal Coach
William Purefoy established his reputation as a premier counter tenor in the UK through performances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hanover Band, English Concert and The Sixteen. He has also earned an international following, with concerts, recitals and operatic appearances in New Zealand, America, France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and a debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2008. A graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and a winner of the NFMS Young Concert Artists Award.
His international operatic engagements have included Truth in Triumph of Time and Truth/Triumph of Beauty and Deceit in Kahlsruhe, a new play Le 6ème Continent at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris, Arsamene in Serse for New Zealand Opera, Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Theater Basel, Ptolemy in Guilio Cesare and Dr Nice in Evening Hymn for Staatsoper Hannover, and Hamor in Jephthe for the Boston Handel and Haydn Society. Highlights of his UK appearances include Man 2 in Cafe Kafka and Pope/Surgeon in The Commission for Opera North, Aldeburgh Music and Linbury Studio Covent Garden, Apollo in Mozart’s Apollo and Hyacinth for Opera Theatre Company and Classical Opera Company, Ascanio in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba and the Handel roles Athamas in Semele, Lychas in Hercules, Arsace in Partenope and Hamor in Jephthe for Buxton Festival. He has appeared frequently at Shakespeare's Globe and regularly performs with vocal groups I Fagiolini and Theatre of Voices.
His many recordings to date have included Bach's Lutheran Mass Volumes I and II (The Sixteen/Coro), Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater (Theatre of Voices/Harmonia Mundi), Buxtehude's Scandinavian Cantatas (Theatre of Voices/Da Capo), Vaughan-Williams' Mass in G Minor (Hickox/Chandos), and the role of Spirit in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Chandos). He was featured in the television series In Search of Shakespeare and the film Young Victoria and has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican and Purcell Room as well as in Innsbruck and Graz.
As the voice coach for the City of Oxford Choir, Billy works alongside conductor Duncan Aspden to improve the choir's vocal technique. During selected rehearsals he leads sessions for one or more of the voice parts as well as individual lessons.
Billy also sang as a soloist alongside the choir in our October 2017 concert, Gloriana: Byrd, Britten and Dove.
Committee
The committee are a group of volunteers from the choir who each take on a role that helps the choir operations run smoothly.
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Stage manager
Alexandra Lamb
