Shrewsbury choristers wow audience at Oxford Evensong

This week saw our Choristers travel to Oxford for a special performance of Evensong. Mr Bell reflects on their incredible performance. 

An enthusiastic bunch of choristers boarded a bus on Tuesday morning bound for Oxford.

Their ultimate goal was to sing Evensong in Queen’s College chapel at 5:30pm but there was much to achieve in the meantime. Upon arrival in Oxford the sun was shining, and all seemed perfect for a quick tour of the city with Oxford alumni Dr Brown and Mr Stafford.

Our guides led us to the covered market and then it was on to visit the Bodleian library and Dr Brown’s old college Merton. The Ashmolean museum was our destination for lunch.

Culturally and physically sated the choir were whisked away for a choral master class followed by a lengthy practice before the service.

They then settled down to a magnificent feast of choral and ritual splendour courteousy of the choir, ably led by our new Director of Chapel music Mr Richard Stafford and his partner in brilliance, our saintly chaplain, Rev Keulemans. It is only three weeks into term, and it is clear that the choir have quickly settled into the new regime. The sound they made was certainly not out of keeping with their prestigious surroundings. Iris D (G, UVI) and Branton Z (R, UVI) sang their solos with confidence and a mature musicality and Arthur H-B’s (I, UVI) organ playing was simply sublime. 

Two American visitors I bumped into after the service told me they had been moved to tears and wondered where they could purchase the CD! Sadly there are no CDs on sale but you can catch the service below and on Youtube.

Credit: Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford (Youtube)

After the service, guests and visitors were treated to refreshments at a reception in St Edmunds Hall.

A big thank you to all the parents and Old Salopians who turned up to show support to the choir. It was lovely to catch up with old friends after such a moving and beautiful service. The choir will be back on the road in April when they will be appearing at St Paul’s cathedral in London on Monday, April 24^th.

Giles Bell