The Choir of New College Oxford is part of the collegiate foundation of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, established by

William of Wykeham William of Wykeham (; 1320 or 1324 – 27 September 1404) was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of ...

in 1379. It is one of England's oldest choral foundations and is the oldest of its kind in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, predating its

sister college In some countries, certain universities have a tradition of pairing their residential colleges or houses with one another. Colleges that are paired are referred to as sister colleges, and have a ceremonial and symbolic relationship to one another ...

in Cambridge by more than sixty years. Consisting of approximately 16 boys and 14 men, it is one of the main choral foundations of the University of Oxford and is regarded as one of the leading choirs of the world. Under

Edward Higginbottom Edward Higginbottom, DPhil (Oxon), BMus (Cantab), (born 16 November 1946, Kendal) is a music scholar, organist, choirmaster and conductor. Most of his career has been as organist at New College, Oxford, where he led their choir for more than 35 ...

, the choir was characterised by a robust sound that allowed individual voices to be heard, and has two

Gramophone Awards The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and refer ...

to its name.

Membership

The choir is made up of choristers aged eight to thirteen who attend

New College School New College School (officially St Mary's College School) is an independent preparatory school for boys aged 4 to 13 in Oxford. It was founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham to provide for the education of 16 choristers for the chapel of New C ...

, undergraduates (known as academical clerks) from the age of 18 who study at the college, and lay clerks - older, professional singers. The choir sings in the usual collegiate format of Decani and Cantoris, with seven men on either side. Historically, the gentlemen of the choir were solely lay clerks. It was only in the 1960s that the choir admitted its first undergraduate member - the young countertenor, James Bowman.

Recordings

Under the directorship of

, the choir rose to particular prominence in the 1990s with their platinum best-selling and award-winning Agnus Dei disc which includes Allegri's famous Miserere mei. The choir's discography rapidly grew under Higginbottom and now totals over 110 discs. A new chapter in the choir's recording life began in 2010 with the launch of its own label, Novum. Recordings represent a of music from the core of the English choral tradition (Howells, Stanford, Wesley, Blow, Britten, Ludford, Tomkins, Boyce, Croft, Taverner, Tye, Locke, Handel, Gibbons, Tallis and Byrd). Further projects include Bach's St John Passion and Motets, Monteverdi's Vespers, Haydn's Creation, as well as recordings of the music of Poulenc, MacMillan, Copland and the music of their contemporaries. Reflecting the interests of Edward Higginbottom, the choir has made important contributions to the performance and recording of French baroque music - in particular the music of Du Caurroy, Charpentier, Delalande, and Couperin. New College Choir have also made numerous recordings of continental polyphony including Lassus, Palestrina, and de Monte. In 2008, the choir won its second

Gramophone Award The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and refer ...

in the early music category for their recording of

Nicholas Ludford Nicholas Ludford (c. 1485 – 1557) was an English composer of the Tudor period. He is known for his festal masses, which are preserved in two early-16th-century choirbooks, the Caius Choirbook at Caius College, Cambridge, and the Lambeth Choirb ...

's ''Missa Benedicta''.

Tours

The choir began touring overseas in the 1960s under David Lumsden, who recognised the benefits it would bring to the choir as well as the reputation of the college. To compliment their considerable recording activity, New College Choir established a busy schedule of concerts and international touring taking the choir to countries as far afield as America, Australia, Japan, and Brazil. European tours have been a mainstay of the choir's international activity, with particular emphasis on France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. On 29 June 2015 and 2016, at the invitation of the Holy See and the

Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other chur ...

, the choir sang at the Papal

Pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...

mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

. Recent sabbaticals have allowed the choir to benefit from the musical direction of Paul Brough and Dr

James Lancelot James Bennett Lancelot (born 2 December 1952) was master of the Choristers, and cathedral organist at Durham Cathedral from 1985. He retired in 2017 and was appointed canon organist emeritus by the bishop of Durham. Lancelot was educated at St ...

Organists and directors of music

Assistant Organists

Former assistant organists include: * David Burchell * Robert Patterson * Matthew Martin * Steven Grahl * Timothy Wakerell * Dónal McCann

Organ Scholars

Former organ scholars include: * Paul Hale *

Patrick Russill Patrick Russill (born 9 September 1953) is an English choral conductor, organist and music conservatoire teacher. He is currently Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London (since 1997), where he is also a professor of organ ...

* Geoffery Webber * Nicholas Wearne * Lawrence Thain * Ben Bloor * Josef Laming * Charles Maxtone-Smith * Hamish Fraser

Notable former choir members

* James Bowman * James Gilchrist - former chorister * Robert Hollingworth - conductor of

I Fagiolini I Fagiolini is a British vocal ensemble specialising in early music and contemporary music. Founded by Robert Hollingworth at Oxford in 1986, the group won the UK Early Music Network’s Young Artists’ Competition in 1988 and a Royal Philharmon ...

Jeremy Summerly Jeremy Summerly (born 28 February 1961) is a British conductor. He was educated at Lichfield Cathedral School, Winchester College, and New College, Oxford. While at Oxford he conducted the New College Chamber Orchestra and the Oxford Chamber Ch ...

- academical clerk *

Howard Goodall Howard Lindsay Goodall (; born 26 May 1958) is an English composer of musicals, choral music and music for television. He also presents music-based programmes for television and radio, for which he has won many awards. In May 2008, he was na ...

* Nicholas Pritchard - tenor academical clerk * Guy Cutting - tenor academical clerk *

David Hurley General David John Hurley, (born 26 August 1953) is an Australian former senior officer in the Australian Army who has served as the 27th governor-general of Australia since 1 July 2019. He was previously the 38th governor of New South Wales ...

- long-time alto of

The King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 19 ...

Rogers Covey-Crump Rogers Henry Lewis Covey-Crump (born 1944) is an English tenor noted for his performances in both early music and contemporary classical music. He has sometimes been identified as an ''haute-contre'' tenor. He has performed for over 50 years i ...

- former chorister * Philip Cave * Matthew Venner * Ian Patridge - former chorister * David Clegg * Alexander Potter *

Toby Spence Toby Spence (born 22 May 1969, London) is a British tenor active internationally on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music. Early life and studies Spence was born into a musical family t ...

* James Geidt *

Paul Spicer Paul Spicer (born August 18, 1975) is an American football coach and former defensive end who is the defensive line coach for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football at Saginaw Valley State. He then played 12 seasons in ...

- former treble *

Simon Halsey Simon Halsey, CBE (born 8 March 1958) is an English choral conductor. He is the chorus director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus (CBSO Chorus), a position he has held since 1983, and has been chorus director of the London Symphony Chor ...

* Daniel Norman * Matthew Beale

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control

New New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

Musical groups established in the 14th century New College, Oxford

1379 establishments in England