The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford

The Magdalen College Choir, Oxford, is one of the oldest and most impressive choirs in the English collegiate tradition. Consisting mostly of men and boys (a few of the Academical Clerks are women), it has a classic, pure sound characteristic of English college choirs. The Magdalen College Choir has a substantial recording catalog, much of it issued on the Harmonia Mundi and Opus Arte labels. In 2024, the group moved to Coro for a pair of albums, Peace I Leave with You and Voices of Thunder: Works for Choir & Organ. Magdalen College, Oxford, was founded in 1458, and its statutes provided for a choir of eight "singing-men," four chaplains, and 16 choristers. Later, four more singing-men and two organ scholars, who also serve a directorial role, were added -- these have been among the few changes in the choir's makeup since 1458. The 12 singing-adults are now called academical clerks; a few of them are women, and they are students at Magdalen College. The 16 boy choristers, between the ages of seven and 13, attend Magdalen School with all expenses paid; the school was founded to educate the choristers, but it is now open to other tuition-paying students. The choir established a strong recording program, and an early digital release was 1991's Pergolesi: Miserere. The choir mixes a heavy schedule of college chapel duties, including rehearsals immediately before and immediately after classes for the boy choristers, with extra-collegiate performances and, increasingly often, recordings. The choir sings at Choral Evensong six days a week, with the youths receiving Friday night off and the adults Tuesday night. Sunday services call for a Eucharist performance as well as Evensong, with a rehearsal before each. It is also a tradition that the choir performs at the College's annual May Morning event, singing at 6 a.m. from the top of the iconic Magdalen Tower. Saturday services are sung by the College's Consort of Voices, a mixed-gender adult choir of which some of the academical clerks are members. The ranks of the choir's music masters and organists include major figures in the history of English music, among them John Sheppard (director from about 1543 to 1552) and John Stainer (organ scholar from 1860 to 1872). The current "Informator Choristarum" is Mark Williams. The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, has toured several European countries, Japan, and the U.S., and earned a U.S. Grammy award in 2005 for With a Merrie Noyse, a collection of sacred music by Orlando Gibbons. It has also recorded Paul McCartney's Ecce cor meum. In 2019, it recorded The Pillar of the Cloud: Five Centuries of Oxford Anthems on Opus Arte. That was followed by Sing, Precious Music in 2020 and The Sweet and Merry Month: Music for May Morning in 2022, both on Opus Arte. The group moved to Coro for a pair of albums, Peace I Leave with You and Voices of Thunder: Works for Choir & Organ, in 2024; the latter celebrated the Magdalen College Chapel's new organ. By then, the choir's recording catalog comprised around 45 items, including appearances on several film soundtracks. ~ James Manheim, Rovi