Season 2025/2026
We take great pride this season in celebrating 20 years since the very first of our Oxford “Come and Sing” performances. Over the years, we have immensely enjoyed the loyalty, commitment, and musical spirit of our singers. Together, we have raised thousands of pounds for worthy causes – first for The Art Room; more recently for organisations dedicated to nurturing creativity in schools and inspiring young people to discover the joy of music and song; or other organisations who are helping the homeless – or those in detention – to experience how singing can help to build self-respect and confidence.
But all good things must come to an end – eventually. So we have made the difficult decision that this year’s concert will also be our final Oxford Orpheus Concert. The reasons are many: they include concerns about costs, about repetitions of repertoire, about the stamina of our Trustees – and even of our uniquely wonderful Musical Director. Above all we should like to finish with a celebration, not with a feeling of managed decline.
So it feels fitting to return to the piece with which it all began in 2006. By once more raising our voices together in Messiah, we come full circle – bringing to a close not only a concert, but 20 remarkable years of music-making, fellowship, and shared joy. HALLELUJAH! But with a difference !! 20 years on we shall be performing the Goossens-Beecham version of this wonderful piece. Robert Dean explains:
When I was a young boy, my sister bought a 7 inch EP of choruses from this beloved piece. She had primarily bought it for the “Hallelujah” chorus, but it also contained the “And the glory of the Lord” and “Glory to God” choruses. This was recorded well before the authentic movement re-imagined the piece and these choruses were taken from a complete recording of a version orchestrated by Sir Eugene Goossens, commissioned and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Being a maverick when it came to his realisations of Baroque choral works, Beecham had wanted a new version orchestrated as Handel might have done it if he had the resources of a modern orchestra available to him – and so he asked Goossens “to throw the kitchen sink at it”. As a result, for some years I always assumed the Hallelujah Chorus began with a cymbal crash!
40 years later, I was the Chorus Master when Richard Hickox revived the ‘Goossens Messiah’ for a performance in the Royal Albert Hall. Hearing again the wonderfully outlandish colours conjured up, I determined there and then to conduct this version myself if ever the opportunity arose – I am now thrilled to be conducting a performance where the astonishing and colourful re-imagining of the score, set for a Verdi Requiem size orchestra but which also includes a harp and three percussionists, will startle and intrigue you! Because of its very inauthenticity, it is nowadays seldom performed. However, with its striking orchestration, it certainly deserves an outing, particularly accompanying the size of choir which we hope to field for this. Please encourage your die-hard Messiah friends to sign up, for if it is to succeed, it will need at the very least the number of singers we fielded for the Verdi this year – and for those of you who might say, “not another Messiah”, I can guarantee you will have never heard it quite like this before. It promises to be a memorable and surprising event. I do hope I have whetted your vocal cords with the above and that you will come and joyously participate, relishing the sense of occasion whilst actively contributing to a worthy 20-year celebration which this idiosyncratic yet still respectful version will inspire.”
You can find full information about the Rehearsal and Concert Day on 28 February by clicking on the box at the top left of this page. Choral scores are the normal Messiah scores. If you don’t already have one, please source your own copy as soon as possible after booking! Novello (old or new edition) scores are recommended. Blackwell’s and Choral Line are usually reliable sources.
BOOK CONCERT DAY MEMBERSHIP NOW BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW TO EVENTBRITE.
IF MEMBERSHIP FOR YOUR VOICE PART IS ALREADY SOLD OUT, EMAIL [email protected] AND ASK TO BE PUT ON THE WAITLIST. (Past experience is that there are always some who have to drop out, so it’s worth being on the list)
We shall be supporting two partner charities in 2025-2026: The first will once again be the Oxford Bach Choir’s Schools Choral Programme whose purpose is to promote good quality choral singing in secondary schools in the Oxford area – hopefully helping sustain a choral tradition among the young people who are our future singers! We will also be supporting The Choir with No Name which in recent years has set up choirs for homeless people in seven UK cities. During the next 12 months they will be investigating the viability of establishing such a choir in Oxford.
LET’S HELP THESE CHARITIES BY CELEBRATING OUR LAST HURRAH IN FRONT OF A RECORD CROWD ON 28 FEBRUARY. AUDIENCE TICKETS CAN NOW BE PURCHASED BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW – AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS !!