The Choir
'One of the world's most renowned choirs'
– Classic FM
The Queen’s College has a strong musical tradition, and the mixed-voiced chapel choir is recognised as one of the finest university choirs in the country.
The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford was recently hailed as ‘one of the world’s most renowned choirs’ by Classic FM and the Director Owen Rees’s interpretations of choral music have been described as ‘revelatory and even visionary’ (BBC Music Magazine). The mixed-voice choir consists of thirty singers, including some twenty Choral Scholars who are students of the College, Choral Exhibitioners from other colleges, and two professional Lay Clerks.
Its extensive concert schedule involves appearances across the UK and abroad, including work with such professional ensembles as the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Brook Street Band. It regularly tours abroad, and recent concert tours have included Taiwan, China, the USA, Sri Lanka, Italy, Sardinia, Portugal, Spain, France, the Low Countries, Germany, and Sweden.
Queen’s choir’s latest CD releases are on the Signum and Avie labels. May 2013 saw the release of a CD of Dixit Dominus settings by Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti, which was hailed as ‘a disc of unusually high calibre’ by Early Music Review and awarded 5 stars by Choir and Organ. In 2011 Queen’s choir commissioned, premiered, and recorded a major new work, Welcome all Wonders, by the British composer David Bednall. Carols from Queen’s enjoyed nine weeks in the Specialist Classical Charts, was 'Drive Featured Album of the Week' on Classic FM, and was a Telegraph Christmas pick. A New Heaven, released in 2017, and The House of the Mind, released in 2018, both went straight to no.1 in the Specialist Classical Chart in their first week of sales, and BBC Music Magazine commented that A New Heaven shows ‘the singers at their radiant best’ and Choir and Organ described The House of the Mind as ‘a gem of a disc’. 2019 saw the release of a recording of music by the great Tudor composer John Taverner, which received a Diapason d’Or and was described by Diapason as‘a splendid triumph of English choral art at its best’. In 2020 A Ceremony of Carols was released, presenting a glorious collection of Christmas music spanning over 900 years, all centered around Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. 2024 saw the release of How are the Mighty Fallen: Choral Music by Giovanni Bononcini. Recorded in 2020, the disc features five remarkable soloists and featured in the Specialist Classical Charts. The choir’s latest release will be announced this autumn, with a release date of 25th October 2024.
Queen’s Choir has also recorded for film at the famous Abbey Road Studios, and appears on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of the Warner-Brothers film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The choir’s TV work has included Lucy Worsley’s A Merry Tudor Christmas (BBC2) in 2019. Performances in 2020 include further collaboration with the Academy of Ancient Music in a concert and subsequent recording of Bononcini, a tour to the Low Countries, performances of the Monteverdi Vespers and St John Passion and further filming work.
During the academic year the choir provides the music for regular services in the College’s splendid Baroque Chapel. Its wide-ranging repertory includes a rich array of music from Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces to contemporary works, including commissions.
Press
“breathtakingly gorgeous sound”
“...an excellent disc: the singing is incredibly tight, in the manner to which it has become increasingly accustomed under its musical director, Owen Rees.”
“An absolutely superb performance…British university choral sound at its best.”
“The performance is excellent. The choir of Queen’s College…sing the work splendidly and with great assurance and commitment. The sound is fresh and clear, the choir achieving a satisfying blend and very good diction….the singers have clearly been trained very well by Owen Rees.”
“The choir produced an exquisitely pure sound…[Owen Rees] an impressive conductor.”
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