Concert by the Choir of Oriel College, University of Oxford, directed by Prof David Maw, at Braga Cathedral, 21h30
Commemorative concert of the 651st anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance.
During 27-29 June, Oriel College Chapel Choir is presenting concerts in Porto, Braga and Coimbra. It will sing a programme of works drawn from the music sung in the college chapel across the academic year. It ranges from classics of the golden age of sacred choral polyphony: Palestrina, Lassus, Tallis, Lotti; to compositions from the more recent Anglican tradition: Harris, Naylor, Whitbourn. Also featured are works honouring the rich musical tradition of the host country: Pedro de Cristo, Manuel Cardoso, and an Englishman working at the royal court, Roberto Tornar.
ORIEL COLLEGE CHAPEL CHOIR
Oriel College Chapel Choir is a group of mixed-voice singers drawn from the student body. The ensemble is led by sixteen choral scholars. The choir sings full choral services each week during term-time through the academic year, drawing its repertory widely from across the history of sacred choral music. The choir is committed to the on-going development of its tradition and has commissioned new works from such composers as Judith Bingham, David Briggs, Herbert Chappell (college alumnus), Phillip A. Cooke, Kenneth Hesketh and Mark R. Taylor. Judith Bingham’s Magnificat celebrated thirty years of female students at the college. Revival of music from the past is also part of its mission. In 2017, it premiered the cantata Hymn of the Third Choir of Angelicals (1895) by the distinguished music historian and editor, Edmund Fellowes (alumnus of Oriel College). It has just released a disc with Convivium Records of music by Henry Aldrich, a notable cleric and composer of the Stuart period. The choir cultivates a warm, blended tone ideally suited to the intimate and focused acoustic of the college’s seventeenth-century chapel.
DAVID MAW – CONDUCTOR
David Maw is Fellow and Director of Music at Oriel College, holding the title of Associate Professor in Music at the University of Oxford. He is active in musical scholarship, composition and performance and has won prizes in each of these domains. His scholarly publications include significant work on fourteenth-century French music and twentieth-century English music. He is currently engaged in the creation of an online edition of the musical works of Guillaume de Machaut. As a performer, he has directed choirs and vocal groups and worked as a keyboard player in solo and ensemble contexts. He has developed a particular specialisation in various genres of improvisation. His compositional output is diverse. His works have been taken up by leading choirs and soloists.
PROGRAMME
Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532 – 1594), Omnes de Saba
Giovanni da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594), Nunc dimittis
Antonio Lotti (1667 – 1740), Miserere
Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585), If ye love me
Pedro de Cristo (1540 – 1618), Ego sum panis
Manuel Cardoso (1566 – 1650), Aquam quam ego dabo
Roberto Tornar (c.1587 — c.1629), Beati omnes
Edward Naylor (1867 – 1934), Vox dicentis
Aaron King (1996 —), If ye love me
Edward Naylor, Magnificat
Hubert Parry (1848 – 1918), Never weather-beaten sail
James Whitbourn (1963 – 2024), Beatus vir
William Harris (1883 – 1973), Faire is the heaven
Charles Stanford (1852 – 1924), Coelos ascendit hodie
