I went to the fund-raising concert which launched the new choral foundation at Merton College Oxford. Having said ever since I left the College that Oxford colleges lagged way behind Cambridge in this area, I thought I should put my money where my mouth was. I have written before about the the choral foundation and my time at Merton.
The Tallis Scholars were as good as you’d expect, and performed a mixture of their current recording projects, as well as some more familiar pieces from their repertoire. In particular, they did Allegri’s Miserere which they have recorded a couple of times in the chapel. I was particularly impressed with the flawless ensemble in the final verse, with the two choirs at opposite ends of the chapel; this is considerably harder than getting the top C!
The Warden made a speech, though you would not have guessed from this that there’d been much of a chapel choir at Merton in recent years, still less that it once had Emma Kirkby in it! As I looked round the chapel I wondered how long it will be before the painting on the ceiling is finally removed or painted over.
I wish the new foundation well and hope to hear it once it’s established. I think there should be enough potential candidates around with both the vocal and academic ability to fill places in it. I’m less sure that there are enough to give Oxford the vocal culture that Cambridge had, with many good mixed choirs comparing standards with one another, and borrowing and poaching singers between choirs.