Come and Sing with Bob Chilcott & Caius Lee

Bob Chilcott and Caius Lee are leading a day of singing at St Barnabas Church in Jericho on Saturday 24 October, with registration starting at 9:30am. It's run by Worcester College, and the morning and afternoon are split into three singing sessions, ending with an informal concert in the late afternoon.

The programme brings together two choral works from different eras. Gabriel Fauré's Requiem will be conducted by Caius Lee, and Bob Chilcott will conduct his own Songs my Heart has Taught Me. It's a day of singing rather than a performance to watch, so you're part of the sound rather than in the audience.

There's a fair bit of choral experience behind the two names. Bob Chilcott has been a full-time composer and conductor since 1997, with a large catalogue of choral music published by Oxford University Press; he's been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers since 2002 and Principal Conductor of Birmingham University Singers since 2019. Caius Lee has been Director of College Music at Worcester College since 2022, after his time as Choral Director for the National Schools Singing Programme at Leeds Cathedral. The venue is St Barnabas Jericho, known around here as 'Oxford's Basilica', which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019.

Registration is at 9:30am, followed by three singing sessions and an informal concert to close the day. At that final concert, there's a collection for Music at Worcester, which supports the Jericho Youth Choir, the Instrumental Scheme, and the College Choir's tour to Barcelona. Tickets are £20, or £5 for students and under-18s.