Oxford University choir tunes into city

What's December without choirs, carols and silvery sounds of the season. In a first for the country, the sound of interwoven voices from the Oxford University-Somerville College Choir-will soar at the Times Litfest on December 14 when they bring 30 choristers and four vocal ranges to the city stage.


Despite a busy academic year-inevitable side of student life in Oxford-members of the choir organised a 24-hour music

marathon

in their college chapel in October to launch a fundraising drive for their India tour. Somerville College's historic links to India provided the impetus for the trip. "Cornelia Sorabji, one of the first female advocates in India, was the first woman to study law in Oxford and the college also counts Radhabai Subbarayan and Indira Gandhi among its alumni. Today, the college hosts Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, which leads research into India's sustainable future and helps fund Indian scholars at Oxford," said Sara Kalim, director of development, Somerville College.

In sync with the leitmotif of this year's Litfest- wondrous ways in which water shapes our lives-the Oxonian choir will take centrestage on Friday at Mehboob Studios to perform a specially curated song list themed around water tracing its journey from snow to the sea.

For a mixed voice ensemble formed in 2001 and named after Scottish scientist Mary Somerville, the choir has already achieved much. Apart from singing for the evening service in the college chapel every Sunday, their repertoire extends from secular works and Anglican choral tradition to works of Handel, Mozart, and Bach and other adventurous pieces that reflect the rich tradition of choral singing.

"College choirs in Oxford are nearly all based around a Church of England chapel and sing choral evensong, but Somerville chapel is non-denominational," says William Dawes, director of chapel music who recalls the challenge the choir faced over the kind of music they should perform at the multi-faith chapel. So they settled on a service of 'choral contemplation' where they would pair music with a talk on an aspect of morality or philosophy and readings of poetry. "This makes the choir very communal, where people of all faiths and none come for peace, reflection and music appreciation," he adds. The speakers too are varied-Buddhist priest, humanist, and even a speaker on the ancient faith of Egypt.

With the widest repertoire for any choir in Oxford, Somerville College Choir has excelled both on home turf and in Germany, Italy and the US. "One of our favourite things to sing are traditional folk songs from the UK and US. They are beautiful and moving stories," says Dawes who has been busy this term performing concerts, carol services, and a large rendition of the Mozart requiem.

The need to evolve, however, does not take precedence over tradition for them. "Every year, a third of the singers graduate and new students take their place which makes it important to have a culture that remains constant through the generations," says Dawes.

Choral music is a strange construct-individual singing parts, listening to each other and transcending to an unbroken whole-and its tangible expression of community ethos lends itself to university culture. Aidan Quinlan, bass singer for the choir, explains. "We're all extremely busy completing several large assignments, participating in clubs, sports teams and societies. Singing is a perfect way to unwind and do something different and creative compared to the rest of your life at Oxford." First-year student and alto singer Melissa Chang agrees. "To have something in your life like choir, which is a routine commitment and about working together with people from different backgrounds, streams and academic years is something that can't be replicated."

The focus of the choir's India tour is charitable work as much as public performance. They will also join forces with two charities-Songbound and the Karta Initiative-to back high-potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Mumbai before moving to Goa.