Biography
Schola Cantorum is Oxford University’s longest running chamber choir. Since it’s foundation as The Collegium Musicum Oxoniense, in 1960 by Laszlo Heltay, the choir’s commitment to the development of young talent has been evidenced by the numbers of former singers who have gone on to a professional career, these include Emma Kirkby, Ian Bostridge and Jane Glover. Schola’s continual success stems from a long line of eminent conductors including Andrew Parrott, Nicholas Cleobury, Ivor Bolton and Jeremy Summerly. It was in 1964, under the direction of John Byrt that the choir acquired its current name, Schola Cantorum.
Throughout it’s history Schola has worked with many eminent musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Leonhardt, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Neville Marriner, as well as Britten, Tippett and Stravinsky in performances of their own music. Schola continues to work closely with composers in the performance of new music. Recent collaborations have included Roxanna Panufnik, Per Norgard, Anthony Pitts, Quentin Thomas. Schola recently commissioned Roderick Williams to compose a complete setting of the choral evensong service in a jazz style. The Oxford Blues Service was performed live on BBC Radio 3 on June 21st 2007.
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In April 2005 Schola celebrated its 45th birthday with a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre. The current choir welcomed back over a hundred former members, as well as patron Emma Kirkby. Reviews commented that the choir ‘performed with confidence, producing a sound that was consistently pure and vibrant’, and that ‘under Burton’s decisive conducting, every entry was watertight, diction was impeccable, and every phrase packed with feeling’ (Oxford Times).
Schola is proud of its association with the University of Oxford and has a considerable record of concerts in chapels and churches in the area. The choir also enjoys giving concerts outside of Oxford. Recent venues have included, City of Birmingham Symphony Hall, St James’s Piccadilly, St Ann’s Church, Manchester and St John’s Church Alresford.
The choir has toured extensively, travelling to China in 2007 to promote cultural exchange in the build up to the Beijing Olympic Games. In October 2006 Schola opened the internationally renowed Cervantino Festival in Mexico. This invitation follows a previous tour to Mexico in September 2004. Other tours have included Argentina (2005), Spain, (2002), France (2001), Japan (2001) and South Africa (1996).
Schola has a vast recording history. Hyperion has recently released 'Children of Our Time', a CD recorded by Jeremy Summerly in 1995. Other recent recordings include, Laudate Pueri, Crucifixus, featuring John Mark Ainsley; a disk of contemporary choral music - including works by Howard Goodall, Francis Grier and Thomas Adés. Other recordings include, This Worldes Joie and Faber New Choral Works.
The choir is directed by a Board of Trustees, chaired by Professor Bernard Silverman, Master of St Peter's College, Oxford.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.