Choir
The Choir of The Queen’s College is among the finest mixed-voice chapel choirs in Oxford and Cambridge. The twenty-eight strong ensemble is made up of choral-award holders and volunteers from Queen’s and other colleges, and is directed by the Organist (Dr Owen Rees) with the assistance of the Organ Scholars.
Evensong is sung in the College Chapel on Wednesdays (at 6.30), Fridays (at 6.30) and Sundays (at 6.15) in term-time.
If you are interested in auditioning for the choir, please email Dr Owen Rees.
There is currently one tenor vacancy in the choir: please contact Dr Rees (owen.rees@queens.ox.ac.uk) for further details.
Choral and Organ Awards
Up to eight choral scholarships are available each year, for all voice types. The deadline for 2010 applications (for entry in 2011 or 2012) is 1 September 2010. For more information, and to download the application form, click here.
Choral Scholarship ‘taster’ sessions
There are opportunities for those interested in choral awards to sing a service with the choir, and for teachers and choir directors to bring small groups of their singers to join the college choir. Please complete the online form. Individual students wishing to come and sing a service, please complete and return this form. Further details can be obtained from Mrs Anne Bevan, Choir Administrator, tel. 01865 279125, anne.bevan@queens.ox.ac.uk
Click here for details of the Choir’s next concert
Click here for recent reviews of the choir’s performances
Listen to a recent recording by the choir
Queen’s Choir featured in new Harry Potter film
July 2009 sees the release in cinemas worldwide of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film in the series based on the novels by J. K. Rowling. The music for this Warner-Brothers film is once again composed by Nicholas Hooper, who approached Queen’s Choir late in 2007 regarding the possibility of the Choir recording music for the film. Having worked on the music concerned with Nick Hooper in Oxford, the Choir went to record at the Abbey Road Studios (most famous thanks to The Beatles), spending a morning in the famous Studio One, the world’s largest purpose-built recording studio, in which innumberable renowned orchestral and choral recordings have been made (including under the batons of Barbirolli, Boult, Previn, and Muti, for example), as well as the music for several well known films (including Star Wars and Lord of the Rings). The piece which we recorded is a simple but highly evocative song, In noctem. It can be heard at various points in the film, during the closing credits, and on the soundtrack CD of the film.
‘Recording at Abbey Road is just one of the amazing opportunities that I have been offered as a member of the Queen’s College Chapel Choir.’ (Georgina Watts; second-year choral scholar)