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Choir of New College Oxford

News

  • 21/02/24

    Lay clerk vacancies: tenor and bass

    New College Choir is looking to appoint one tenor and one bass lay clerk from 1 October 2024.  This is an ideal opportunity to build a professional singing career round the work of the choir, with regular singing, concerts and recordings. 
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  • 31/01/24

    J S Bach, St John Passion

    On Sunday 17 March at 5.00pm in New College Chapel New College Choir joins forces with Instruments of Time & Truth for the annual performance of Bach's exploration of the Passion narrative.  Sebastian Hill is the Evangelist and Robert Quinney directs.
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  • 23/01/24

    Assistant Organist applications

    The college is looking for a new Assistant Organist to start in September 2024
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  • 10/01/24

    Britten, A Ceremony of Carols

    Sunday 21 January at 3.30pm in New College Chapel
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  • 08/11/23

    Byrd's keyboard music: Friday 10 November 8.30pm

    William Byrd Festival: Friday 10 November at 8.30pm
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  • 18/10/23

    Christmas Concert in London: Friday 15 December

    Christmas is coming!  Book now to enjoy the choir's annual celebration of this special festival. Friday 15 December at 7.30pm St John's Smith Square, London (part of the Christmas Festival) Festive favourites and traditional carols and motets, including music by Byrd, Praetoriu...
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  • 18/10/23

    J S Bach, Christmas Oratorio, Parts I-III

    New College Choir with Instruments of Time & Truth perform parts I-III of Bach's setting of the Christmas story on 19 December at 6.30pm    
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  • 18/10/23

    Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

    Following his hugely successful sequence of recitals in chapel last term exploring Bach's French Suites, Dónal McCann now takes on some of the best known of Bach's keyboard works, The Well-Tempered Clavier, or 'The 48'.   This term he will perform the whole of Book I...
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  • 02/10/23

    Robert Quinney talks about Frescobaldi

    Robert Quinney joined Donal McLeod as expert witness to discuss the work of Frescobaldi on BBC Radio 3s Composer of the Week. You can catch up on the series on the BBC iPlayer  
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  • 10/07/23

    Summer Concert: Saturday 15 July at 5.00pm

    Enjoy a final opportunity to hear the choir live this summer in New College Chapel: music from the Renaissance to the latest commission by Sir James MacMillan.  Tickets from www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/new-college-choir-summer-concert-tickets-672044973607 or use the QR code below. 
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  • 10/07/23

    Malta tour

    The choir is currently on tour in Malta, singing in the spectacular St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.  They are seen here rehearsing in the cathedral's Oratory, in front of Caravaggio's Beheading of St John the Baptist.  Free concert on Monday 10 July at 7.00pm.  Th...
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  • 23/06/23

    New CD from Linn Records

    Today we celebrate the choir's commitment to new music over the last century!  Featuring works from Harris' Faire is the heaven, to new commissions by Deborah Pritchard and Caitlin Harrison, the disc celebrates new liturgical writing, framed by three settings of the Evensong canticles b...
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  • 12/06/23

    James MacMillan, 'When one man dies': premiere at Evensong on Saturday 24 June at 5.45pm

    New College Choir premieres a new commission from James MacMillan, 'When One Man Dies' (text by John Donne) at a Festival Evensong on Saturday 24 June at 5.45pm.  The composer discusses the art of setting a text for choral composition with Robert Quinney at 3.30pm in chapel, with the De...
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  • 30/05/23

    The Night Office in 15th-Century Oxford

    On Tuesday 6 June at 9pm in chapel the choir will enact a short-form Night Office as it might have been known in 15th-century Oxford, to explore how this now-forgotten liturgy worked in performance. In southern England from the late 14th century on, Tuesdays were commonly given over to the vene...
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  • 04/05/23

    Lay Clerk Vacancies

    New College Choir plans to appoint four new lay clerks from 1 October 2023 for one year. As well as singing daily services during university term, lay clerks enjoy excellent opportunities to develop solo singing in concerts and recordings, and on tour in the UK and abroad. The posts will suit youn...
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  • 29/03/23

    James Bowman: tributes from Robert Quinney and Edward Higginbottom

    Robert Quinney writes The loss of James Bowman is felt all over the musical world – rarely can an artist have made such an impact over such a long career – but with a particular depth at New College. James was one of us; not only as a former Academical and Lay Clerk, nor as one of our...
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  • 27/03/23

    The Choir in the USA

    The choir is touring the USA - we would be delighted to see you at any of the concerts.
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  • 24/10/22

    Dep auditions Saturday 28 October: 1100-1300

    Auditions will be held in New College Chapel on Saturday 28 October 11.00-13.00
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  • 17/10/22

    J S Bach, Christmas Oratorio, Parts IV-VI

    Join the choir as it celebrates Bach's joyous setting of the Christmas story. Robert Quinney returns from sabbatical to direct the choir, and we welcome Guy Cutting (former academical clerk) as the Evangelist. The University Church provides a grand Gothic setting to one of the highligh...
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  • 04/10/22

    Evensong in memory of Alastair Putt

         
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  • 07/07/22

    Concerts in Northern Ireland

    Choir of New College on tour in Northern Ireland
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  • 26/05/22

    Bach & Walther - Gramophone review

    'one of the most satisfying organ recordings to have nourished my ears...the highly colourful Grant, Degens and Bradbeer instrument has never been better recorded... a wonderful showcase for his talents'.  Read the full review of Dónal McCann's debut CD below.
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  • 12/05/22

    New College Hymn Book - now on sale!

    Our wonderful new hymn book is now on sale to all.  Please follow the links here to purchase your copy.  Different prices apply according to postage costs for overseas sales. New College Hymn Book (UK)   New College Hymn Book (Europe)   New College Hymn Book (Overs...
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  • 31/01/22

    Three Choirs Concert: Friday 18 March

    In what promises to be the concert of the decade, the Choirs of Christ Church, Magdalen and New College join together in the Sheldonian Theatre to perform Handel's Coronation Anthems.  The three directors of music, Steven Grahl, Robert Quinney and Mark Williams also take centre stage in the...
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  • 21/01/22

    Choir dep auditions: Sat 5 February

    We are auditioning for our deputy list!  Experienced singers (alto, tenor, bass) are welcome to apply for an audition.  Excellent opportunities for services and concerts, good rates and an exciting and varied music list.  Email the Choir Administrator for an audition slot (10.00-12.00...
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  • 17/12/20

    Support New College Choir

    If you have enjoyed our live-streamed services, concerts and recordings, and would like to support the work of the choir, we would be most grateful. Please choose the last link ‘New College Chapel and Choir’ on the college’s university fund-raising page:  https://www.develo...
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  • 15/12/20

    Advent from New College

    Although the University term has now ended, there are a few last Advent performances yet to be given in New College chapel. This week these include a wonderful recital by our Assistant Organist of music for Advent, wihch will be streamed via our YouTube channel at 8.30pm on Friday 18th, and a perfor...
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  • 09/12/20

    Media Vita - Gramophone review

    We are very proud of this enormously generous review of our latest recording - Media Vita - from Gramophone!   You can read the full review here: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review?slug=sheppard-media-vita-choir-of-new-college-oxford
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  • 20/10/20

    Sunday Times review - Media Vita

    We're very proud of this lovely review in The Sunday Times (18th October) for our upcoming recording of music by Sheppard - Media Vita : "These seven beguiling pieces by John Sheppard were written late in his career, in Mary Tudor’s reign. Four, A solis ortus cardine, Inclina...
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  • 16/10/20

    Michaelmas term organ recitals

    For the duration of Michaelmas term we will be streaming twice weekly organ recitals, performed by our resident organists and organ scholars, via our YouTube channel. These recitals will begin at 1pm on Mondays and Thursdays - we hope you'll enjoy tuning in over your lunch break...
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  • 09/10/20

    Media Vita - Released 23rd October!

    New College Choir is delighted to announce its debut release with Linn Records with a recording of works by the English Renaissance composer John Sheppard, including his most celebrated work, Media Vita, and four motets which receive their premiere recordings. New College Choir was already 150 ye...
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  • 19/09/20

    apart/together 2 - Laudate Pueri

    Our choristers' second recording of lockdown, recorded remotely over the summer in collaboration with Positive Note productions, is of Mendelssohn's beautiful Laudate Pueri. Recorded remotely, we hope this is the first of many releases over the coming months as we return to school and colleg...
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  • 14/08/20

    My New College Moment - Ben Hulett

    Please enter an introduction for your blog post here.
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  • 10/08/20

    Applying for a Choral Scholarship

    New College Choir bass Filippo Turkheimer gives the insider view of being a choral scholar, and talks you through applications for a choral award at New College.  Remember that you need to apply by 1 September.        Auditions this year will be online...
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  • 03/08/20

    apart/together - Choral music after COVID

    Young Oxford singers from the Choir of New College, Oxford, have joined up with production company, Positive Note, to produce a poignant call for attention, as the pandemic threatens the future of choral music in Britain. Kept apart, they sing together, Bach’s Letzte Stunde. Not a Zoom perf...
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  • 18/07/20

    My New College Moment - Curtis Price

    Former Warden of New College and Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Sir Curtis Price, provides our New College Moment this week! We hope you enjoy his choice of Spem in Alium.                 As always, we'd love to...
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  • 11/07/20

    My New College Moment - The Bennett Brothers

    Below you can find the next episode of our series of memories from former clerks, choristers and choir supporters, featuring Oscar and Edward Bennett - two former choristers!                 As always, we'd love to hear f...
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  • 01/07/20

    My New College Moment - Jonny Howard

    My New College Choir Moment - Jonny Howard Below you can find the next episode of our series of memories from former clerks, choristers and choir supporters, featuring former Choral Scholar and now King's Singers member, Jonny Howard.       As always, we'...
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  • 25/06/20

    My New College Moment - Dan Norman

    My New College Choir Moment - Dan Norman Below you can find the latest instalment of our series of memories from former clerks, choristers and choir supporters, featuring former Choral Scholar and now Operatic Tenor, Dan Norman.       As always, we'd love to...
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  • 19/06/20

    My New College Choir Moment - Edward Higginbottom

    My New College Choir Moment - Edward Higginbottom Below you can find the second instalment of our seroes of memories from former clerks, choristers and choir supporters, featuring our former Director of Music, Edward Higginbottom!       As always, we'd love...
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  • 13/06/20

    The Blessed Virgin

    This week’s play list has been selected by the Choir Administrator, while the Organist fulfils one of his many other roles – marking exams!  You can find the playlist here.   I’ve chosen to celebrate the wealth of settings addressed to the Virgin Mary. At the heart...
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  • 11/06/20

    My New College Choir Moment; Robert Hollingworth

    My New College Choir Moment - Robert Hollingworth  We are delighted to launch a series of favourite memories from former clerks, choristers and choir supporters who share a glimpse of their time in the choir, and choose their favourite track from the choir’s discography...
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  • 31/05/20

    Come, Holy Ghost

    You can listen to the playlist here.  This week we wrap up the great forty days of Easter, which by coincidence have taken place entirely within the lockdown period.  In doing so, we begin and end with the Ascension, and two great motets of the English long sixteenth century.  Chri...
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  • 15/05/20

    The English Tradition Pt.2

    You can find the playlist here. The second part of our express tour of the choral tradition of these islands is by no means specifically English: it encompasses music by an Irishman and a Scot, and, more significantly, demonstrates the influence of European music throughout this country’s...
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  • 13/05/20

    Chorister Open Day – Saturday 13 June 2020

    Welcome to our virtual Chorister Open Day We are very sad not to be able to welcome families to New College Chapel for our annual chorister open day.  It is always a wonderful afternoon where our young visitors find out about every aspect of  chorister life – through singing, dres...
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  • 08/05/20

    The English Tradition

    You can listen to this week's playlist here. This week’s playlist is the first in a two-part survey of what is often referred to as the ‘English Choral Tradition’. We’ll proceed in chronological order, but both playlists will be topped and tailed by related w...
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  • 30/04/20

    Spring's Creation

    You can listen to this week's playlist here. During this week's playlist, we’re taking a look around, enjoying the splendour of the world now revealing itself in its bright Spring garments—including quite a bit of rain, in Oxford at least. A subsisidary theme of division and u...
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  • 20/04/20

    Springtime

    Our fourth weekly podcast celebrates Spring - you can listen here. Welcome to our fourth playlist! We begin and end with two contrasting settings of a text from the Song of Solomon, My beloved spake. This text, which often inspired composers, has to be the most glorious evocation of Spring i...
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  • 14/04/20

    The Arrival of Easter

    Below, Robert Quinney discusses our latest playlist, which you can listen to here.
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  • 06/04/20

    The Path of Holy Week

    Below, Robert Quinney discusses our latest playlist, which you can listen to here.
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  • 03/02/20

    Lay Clerk Vacancies 2020

    New College intends to appoint three lay clerks (two tenors, one bass) from 1 October 2020 to 31 July 2021. As well as singing daily services during university term, lay clerks enjoy excellent opportunities to develop solo singing in concerts and recordings, and on tour in the UK and abroad. The pos...
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  • 01/02/20

    40 years of women at New College

    New College Service by Deborah Pritchard: First Performance at Evensong on Sunday 2 February at 5.45pm   The choir is very excited to be giving the first performance on Sunday of a new set of canticles, commissioned by Robert Quinney, as part of events this year to celebrate forty ye...
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  • 30/01/20

    An Organ Scholarship at New College

    Our Junior Organ Scholar, Hamish Fraser, reflects on his first few months at New College. Given that New College is one of the three choral foundations at Oxford, life as organ scholar here is a particularly immersive experience. The choir is comprised of fourteen singers on the ‘back row...
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  • 06/01/20

    The view from the alto stalls

    Lewis Hammond, one of our 3rd year undergraduates scholars, reflects on the tranquility of our wonderful Chapel
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  • 17/11/19

    Lutheran Vespers - 17th November

    For the last several terms New College Choir has performed a Cantata by J. S. Bach—not Evensong, but in a liturgy modelled on the office of Vespers, as it would have been celebrated in the principal churches of Leipzig during Bach’s time as Cantor of the Thomasschule, 1723-1750. The cong...
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  • 13/11/19

    50th Birthday recital

    This year sees the fiftieth anniversary of the Grant, Degens and Bradbeer organ in New College Chapel. To commemorate the occasion, Robert Quinney, our Director of Music is performing a Birthday Recital at 8.30pm on 23rd November. Below are some of Robert's thoughts on this special occasion...
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  • 01/11/19

    Commemoration of All Souls

    On Saturday 2nd November we marked All Souls Day at New College. Below, Daniel Tate, one of our Bass Lay Clerks, and Charles Maxtone-Smith, our Sub-Assistant Organist, reflect on the service: This Saturday’s service marked a change from the regular Choral Evensong with our pe...
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  • 22/10/19

    Surplicing and start of term

    At last the choir is back for the beginning of the new academic year and there is music again in chapel after the long summer break!  At Evensong on Sunday 13 we welcomed our newest choristers and choral scholars.  At a special ceremony, the year 5 choristers received their surplices from...
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  • 17/10/19

    50th Anniversary recital series

    This term’s organ recitals celebrate the 50th birthday of the chapel organ. Our famously ground-breaking instrument was built in 1969 and was restored to its full glory in 2014: read the full story here: https://www.newcollegechoir.com/organ Saturdays at 7.00pm – free, all welcom...
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  • 11/10/19

    Michaelmas Music List release

    We are very excited to announce our new music list for the coming term!
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  • 18/04/19

    Music List & Term Card - Trinity Term 2019

    Music List & Term Card - Trinity Term 2019
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  • 18/04/19

    Chorister Open Day 2019

    New College Choir's Chorister Open Day for 2019  took place on Saturday 15 June 2019
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  • 16/01/19

    Organ Recitals Hilary Term 2019

    Our organ recital series takes place on Saturdays after Evensong, and sees players from New College and London. In addition to this, our Assistant Organist, Timothy Wakerell will play Messiaen's 'La Nativite du Seigneur' on Thursday 17 January.  Entry to these concerts is free, w...
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  • 16/01/19

    Music List - Hilary Term 2019

    Music List & Term Card - Hilary Term 2019
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  • 01/10/18

    Music List - Michaelmas Term 2018

    Music List - Michaelmas Term 2018
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  • 01/08/18

    Behind the scenes with New College Choir

    We are grateful and fortunate to be working with Stephen from fatkoala.biz on a photography project documenting the life of the choir. Here is a slideshow of his work with us thus far: 
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  • 23/07/18

    Choral Application for 2019/20 Entry

    New College Choir has choral scholar vacancies for 1 alto, 1 tenor, and 2 basses for 2019/20 entry.  Our choral scholars – known as academical clerks – sing in the choir’s daily services, balancing this commitment with their academic study. Though many of our academical cle...
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  • 19/04/18

    Choral and Organ Open Day (choral and organ scholarships) - Sat 28 April

    Saturday 28 April 2018 – Choral and Organ Open Day We are looking forward to welcoming singers and organists interested in applying for choral and organ awards at Oxford’s Open Day on 28 April 2018.  Aspiring young musicians can experience at first-hand what it feels like to...
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  • 18/04/18

    Trinity 2018 Organ Recitals

    Saturdays, 7:15pm 28 April    ROBERT QUINNEY  ||  organist 12 May     CHARLES MAXTONE-SMITH  ||  junior organ scholar  19 May     TIMOTHY WAKERELL  ||  assistant organist 26 May...
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  • 10/04/18

    Trinity Term 2018 Music List

    New College Chapel 2018 Trinity Term Music List 
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  • 15/02/18

    On “Allegri’s Miserere” and making things up

    “Allegri’s Miserere - the product of a haphazard transmission history...
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  • 07/02/18

    Chorister Open Day - 9 June 2018

    Saturday 9 June at 4.30pm  - New College Chapel For boys who love singing... Join the choir for an afternoon of singing, games, information and New College’s famous tea, and find out everything about life as a New College Chorister.  Meet the director, Robert Quinney, an...
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  • 17/01/18

    Friends of New College Choir

    Preserving a priceless heritage for the future ... World-class music for a new generation.
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  • 09/01/18

    Frideswide Voices Residency

    The college is delighted to welcome back Frideswide Voices who will be in residence in chapel again this term, Hilary 2018.  They will sing on Mondays (except for 12 February) and will sing two additional Evensongs outside university term, on 12 & 19 March. Directed by Will Dawes (@w...
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  • 13/11/17

    Advent & Christmas Carol Service Webcasts

    For the final webcasts of term, we're placing online a live recording of both our Advent and Christmas carol services, for all those who couldn't make it, or who need a fix of New College Choir over the vacation - after all, you can never have too many carol services... The order of servi...
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