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“the Chapel Choir enjoys an enviable reputation”
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Chapel Choir
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The Chapel Choir enjoys an enviable reputation. Its origins go right back to the foundation of the school when music at the College was interlinked with that at St Saviour’s Church in South Street and the foundations of a musical tradition were laid down in 1884 when the first choral scholarships to College pupils were awarded.
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In 1907 the first choral scholarship won by a College pupil to Jesus College, Cambridge, was gained by Vernon Brown (School House 1905–07) (later Air Commodore Sir Vernon Brown CBE OBE) in 1907. This was the beginning of a long line of such choral scholarships to Cambridge, Durham, Oxford and other universities. A look at the history of music at the College (LINK) will give an insight into the role that the Chapel Choir has played since then. In particular, the part played by Gordon Carey OE (Headmaster 1929–38), a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, who appointed JS Lowe BA ARCO, the College’s first Director of Music, and CH Barlow BA MusB, Choral Scholar of King’s College, Cambridge, was significant. In more recent years, John Walker MA, Choral Scholar, King’s College, Cambridge (Director of Music 1965–91) lifted College music to a new plane, particularly in the choral sphere.
Over the past 17 years, the work of the Chapel Choir has been further developed. Not only has the Chapel Choir broadcast live on national radio and made various recordings but it provides music for regular services as well as those more significant moments in the life of a school (Speech Day, funerals, weddings). There are annual visits to Chichester and Winchester cathedrals to sing evensong, an Advent procession as well as Christmas carol services (the 2007 carol service was recorded and broadcast on local independent radio on Christmas Day). The choir also takes music to the wider community with occasional services in local churches and an annual summer concert in aid of the Chaseley Trust.
Comprising some 40 singers and formed as a double four-part choir, the Chapel Choir provides the basis of the College Choral Society (LINK). As well as works by, for example, Malcolm Archer and Richard Lloyd, the choir has performed Robert Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass in a liturgical setting, some of Philip Ledger’s Requiem (written in 2008) (LINK) in a concert setting. In 2007, an anthem was commissioned from Grayston Ives (organist, Informator Choristarum and tutor in music at Magdalen College, Oxford) to celebrate the College’s 140th year. This work, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, scored for four-part choir, organ and brass was first performed at the Speech Day service in 2007 and again in 2008 and continues the tradition of brass embellishment at significant moments of the College year.
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