Oxford Harmonic Choir

Oxford Harmonic Choir website

A piece of its own: the OHC composition competition

by

This is the last in the series of monthly posts celebrating the choir’s rich history in its centenary year.

Publicity leaflet/poster for the OHC competition

By 2016 the choir had been in existence for over 90 years and performed several premières and little known works throughout its history. But it had never had a piece written especially for it, even though commissioning one had been under discussion for decades. Early in that year however, its then Chair, Lindsey Charles, was inspired by a very successful national competition run by a local amateur orchestra to find a composer to write a piece for it. This seemed a promising way forward for the choir too and in autumn 2016 the committee agreed to go ahead.Continue Reading

First performances and revivals

by

Oxford Harmonic Choir has a proud tradition of including less well-known works in its concerts; on a few occasions, too, performances of new works have been put on. An early example of the latter was in 1926, when Reginald Jacques conducted a performance of Forty Singing Seamen, a work for baritone, chorus and orchestra by the Oxford composer Thomas Wood.  (The 1926 performance was given without the orchestral accompaniment, but the work was performed again with orchestra in 1927 in a subscription concert that had been postponed because of the general strike, see our August post.)Continue Reading

Singing with Bonn: from heyday to final concert

by

After the Harmonic’s first trip to Bonn in 1987 it was four years before the two choirs sang together again, even though the Bonn Philharmonic Choir visited Oxford in 1988 and 1989. In 1991, however, the Harmonic was invited to Bonn again to sing Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Oxfordwoche and a party of 65 singers set off in September with their new conductor Robert Secret.Continue Reading

Singing with the Bonn Philharmonic Choir

by

Cover of the 50th anniversary brochure

In 1947 while the German city of Bonn was still in ruins, its British military administrators sought a partnership with a British city which would support its reconstruction and promote peace and understanding with its citizens. Oxford was enthusiastic and a link with Bonn began which continues to this day. Initially visits between the cities were largely limited to civic delegations but at the end of the 1960s Bonn, by then capital of West Germany, started to expand this exchange to include other organisations and in 1971 held its first ‘Oxford week in Bonn’. Oxford reciprocated with  ‘Bonn week’ which alternated every two years with the ‘Oxfordwoche’ in Bonn.Continue Reading

Privacy Policy