I'm not sure if I've ever set foot in a working convent before, but tomorrow, in anticipation of Candlemas, I and seven other singers will do just that to present a programme of delights through the centuries, from Tallis to Holst. A good way to brighten up this time of year.

Rehearsal tonight, tickets for the concert available! We are back in business for 2025 with this beautiful collection of choral music exploring love in all its forms including Monteverdi, Brahms
@ericwhitacre.bsky.social and more! Join us on 8th February at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford 🎶😁

Well that was fun. Nice to be able to join the current chapel choir for a few of the anthems. Racked up my first Hark the Herald Angels of the season 😱

Now, this IS something to look forward to. Commotio (www.commotio.org) at SJE Oxford this Sat, 30 Nov, at 7.30pm. Works by Chilcott, Moore, Whitbourn & plenty more besides. Rutter like you've never heard! And freshly-baked mince pies to get you in the mood. Tix from commotio.org/.../19.30%2C....

Much musical jollity to be had this coming weekend. 1st, Mozart's Great C Minor Mass & Bruckner Motets with OSJVoices @ SJE Arts on Saturday (7pm), then Rutter's Magnificat & Vivaldi's Gloria with the Burford Singers @ St John the Baptist, Burford on Sunday (7.30pm). No time to pause for breath!

And so my mad month of music-making - 5 different concerts in 5 weekends - concludes tomorrow in Dorchester Abbey with the Orchestra of St John's Voices under the inimitable John Lubbock. And what else could it be but the St Matthew Passion? What a way to spend (some of) my Easter weekend 😊

Mad March, pt.4. This time it's on Sunday 24 March at 7.30pm, St John the Baptist Church, Burford with the delightful Burford Singers under our fab new conductor, Will Dawes. Exciting times ahead, starting with Haydn's Creation. Tickets from www.ticketsource.co.uk/the-burford-... but going fast.

Mad March continues this Sat, 16 March, 7.30pm with the delightful NC3 choir: a great mix of British (inc Smyth, Britten, Holst, Moeran) & European (Boulanger, Stenhammar, Brahms) music at the Chipping Norton Music Festival with George Parris and Susie Allan
Tix from www.cnmf.org.uk/concerts/202...

Mad March, pt 2. If you don't know the music of Uroš Krek, Knut Nystedt, Svein Møller, Frank Ferko & Bern Herbolsheimer, it's about time you did. And if you're unsure about those names, we have others too. Sat, 9 March, 7.30pm, Commotio at SJE, Oxford. Tickets from www.commotio.org/store/p41/19...

Concert season is here! First off, Tallis's monumental Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater followed by gregoriana by Duruflé & the Oxford première of Kerensa Brigg's Requiem with the marvellous Oxford Pro Musica Singers. Sat 2 March, 7.30 pm, Exeter College. Tickets from www.ticketsource.co.uk/oxfordpromus....

My 3rd consecutive weekend of double concerts approaches. First, Sat 16th, Messiah: 7pm at Dorchester Abbey with the Orchestra of St John's. Then, at 5pm on Sun 17th the first-rate
Oxford Pro Musica Singers will perform our much-loved (and fast selling-out) A Christmas Cracker at Keble College.
.

And so, seamlessly on to the next weekend of concerts. First, on Saturday at Dorchester Abbey with the Orchestra of St John's a reprise of the St Nicolas Cantata. Then on Sunday all the excitement of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Pts. I-III) with the terrific Amici e Voci and Belsize Baroque.

Now the concerts are coming thick and fast. First, On Hov'ring Wing with Commotio on Saturday. Then Britten's (slightly bonkers, imo) St Nicolas Cantata on Sunday with the
OSJ Voices. Both at St John the Evangelist, Oxford. So much to look forward to!

My next gig. So much to look forward to. Everyone knows the Fauré Requiem (and the Cantique de Jean Racine too). Not everyone will know the Lobo, but believe me both pieces are divine, especially Versa est in luctum. If you're in/near Kingston-u-Thames next Saturday you're in for a rare treat.