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From public concerts to student performances, and from choral scholarships to our community choirs, Worcester is a place brimming with music. With our thriving Music at Worcester programme, you can make music, try something new or just sit back and listen in.

Worcester is one of Oxford’s most musical colleges. Many students take part in music-making – whether they study Music or not – and our aim is for music to happen at every level and for all abilities. In any given week, musical events in College might include a student-run rave, orchestra rehearsal, choral evensong in Chapel or a recital by a world-renowned ensemble or soloist. Our students benefit from free or discounted tickets and the opportunity to work alongside professional composers, conductors and artists.

The College also has a reputation for musical excellence, from our current Professor of Composition Jennifer Walshe, to alumni and former tutors including Sholto Kynoch, Kenneth Leighton, Rachel Portman, Deborah Pritchard, Edmund Rubbra, Robert Saxton and Robert Sherlaw Johnson.

Choir & chapel music Choral & Organ Scholarships The Oxford Choral Experience

Choir rehearsal in the chapel

Meet our Director of College Music

Caius Lee read Music and was Organ Scholar at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, during which time he founded the Florence International Singing Programme. Since 2019, he has been a trustee for Awards for Young Musicians, supporting talented young musicians from low-income families. He has worked with choirs, festivals and played solo recitals in Europe, Asia and South America. Returning to the Diocese of Leeds in 2021 as a Choral Director, Caius led choirs in his native Bradford before joining Worcester in September 2023. His passion for community engagement and choral excellence has been recognised with a Royal Society of Arts Fellowship (FRSA).

Contact Caius

DISCOVER MORE…

From our opportunities for musical scholarships and practice to community music-making, find out more about Music at Worcester.

College Choir singing in Chapel

Choral, organ & instrumental scholarships

College Choir singing in Chapel

Choral, organ & instrumental scholarships

Worcester College offers several types of scholarships per year and scholars are expected to play a crucial role in musical life across the College.

Choral Scholars make up the College choir and receive free singing lessons, a generous honorarium and regular workshops with singers, teachers and conductors. They sing up to three Chapel services a week and benefit from two free formal dinners and one regular dinner each week.

Organ Scholars are appointed each year and receive hands-on training to lead our boy choristers’ morning rehearsals and conduct the choirs. They also benefit from organ, conducting and singing lessons.

Instrumental Scholarships are for musically talented players studying any subject. We encourage specialists on folk and ethnic instruments to apply, as well as mainstream classical instrumentalists. Instrumental Scholars receive a £200 award, with additional discretionary funds available to help with music-related costs, concerts, music purchase, instrumental hire, and courses.

Read more about Worcester’s music scholarships

Playing the piano

Student instrumental scheme

Playing the piano

Student instrumental scheme

Worcester’s instrumental scheme is the first of its kind in any Oxbridge College.

Piloted in 2024, the access scheme is chosen not on musical ability but instead given to those keen and passionate to learn. It aims to combat the decline of instrumental music-making in schools.

The College covers the cost, for 15 students per year, to learn an instrument from scratch. The College also considers and pays for instrument hire for students who have learnt an instrument at school but never owned their instrument so that they can continue making music at university.

Current students can apply online

Allsorts choir singing in Chapel

Allsorts Community Choir

Allsorts choir singing in Chapel

Allsorts Community Choir

Worcester’s community choir is a regular feature of the College’s social life, rehearsing every Thursday lunchtime in term time.

Open to everyone – students and staff from Worcester and beyond – there are no auditions and absolutely no expectation to read music. The aim is to make music, have fun and do something a bit different from work or study for 45 minutes each week.

The Allsorts typically perform an informal Christmas concert and join the College Choir for a summer performance in the gardens.

Everyone from Worcester and beyond is invited to join the Allsorts on Thursdays from 1.45pm-2pm (Full Term Weeks 1-8 only).

Email the Director of Music to find out more

Grand piano in front of window showing lake and trees

College Music facilities

Grand piano in front of window showing lake and trees

College Music facilities

Worcester boasts three grand pianos, including a Steinway and a Bosendorfer.

We have four music practice rooms on the main site and all BA Music students receive a keyboard in their room for the duration of their studies.

Our people

Headshot of Thomas Hyde

Senior Research Fellow & College Lecturer in Music

Dr Thomas Hyde

Headshot of Thomas Hyde

Dr Thomas Hyde ARAM

Senior Research Fellow & College Lecturer in Music

Education

BA MMus DPhil (Oxford)

Thomas Hyde is a composer and academic. He has taught at City University and held a junior fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music. He combines his role at Worcester College with a lectureship in music at King’s College, London. In 2017 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and in 2023 was appointed a vice-President of the Presteigne Festival. He is chair of the Lucille Graham Trust, a small charity supporting education music projects in the London area.

Director of College Music

Caius Lee

Caius Lee FRSA

Director of College Music

Caius Lee read Music and was Organ Scholar at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, during which time he founded the Florence International Singing Programme. Since 2019, he has been a trustee for Awards for Young Musicians, supporting talented young musicians from low-income families. He has worked with choirs, festivals and played solo recitals in Europe, Asia and South America. Returning to the Diocese of Leeds in 2021 as a Choral Director, Caius lead choirs in his native Bradford before joining Worcester in September 2023. His passion for community engagement and choral excellence has been recognised with a Royal Society of Arts Fellowship (FRSA).

Headshot of Rachel Portman

Honorary Fellow

Rachel Portman

Headshot of Rachel Portman

Rachel Portman OBE

Honorary Fellow

Composer

Education

1979, Music

Contact

Website
Headshot of Matthew Cheung Salisbury

Assistant Chaplain & College Lecturer in Music

The Revd Dr Matthew Cheung Salisbury

Headshot of Matthew Cheung Salisbury

The Revd Dr Matthew Cheung Salisbury FRHistS

Assistant Chaplain & College Lecturer in Music

Assistant Deputy Dean of Degrees

Education

BA (Toronto), MSLR (Leuven), MSt DPhil (Oxford)

Matthew’s academic formation has spanned music, history, theology, and canon law. A former student at Worcester, he was first appointed College Lecturer in 2010. Over the years he has served as Chairman of the Faculty of Music, as intercollegiate organ scholarships coordinator, as consultant senior researcher in the Faculty of Letters in the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and as adviser to cathedrals, churches, and television and radio producers on musical and liturgical matters. His research has been profiled on BBC Radio and TV.

Matthew is also National Liturgical Adviser to the Church of England.

Headshot of Robert Saxton

Emeritus Professor of Composition

Professor Robert Saxton

Headshot of Robert Saxton

Professor Robert Saxton FGSM

Emeritus Professor of Composition

Tutor in Music (1999-2021) & Emeritus Fellow

Honorary Research Fellow, Royal Academy of Music, London

Education

MA BMus DMus
Honorary Fellow, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

Contact

Website

Robert Saxton was born in London in 1953 and started composing at the age of six. Guidance in early years from Benjamin Britten and lessons with Elisabeth Lutyens was followed by periods of study at both Cambridge (undergraduate) and Oxford (postgraduate) Universities with Robin Holloway and Robert Sherlaw Johnson respectively, and also with Luciano Berio. He won the Gaudeamus International Composers Prize in Holland at the age of twenty-one. In 1986 he was awarded the Fulbright Arts Fellowship to the USA, where he was in residence at Princeton. He became a DMus (Oxon) in 1992 and was elected an Hon Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge in 2015.

He has written works for the BBC (TV, Proms and Radio), LSO, LPO, ECO, London Sinfonietta, Nash Ensemble, Northern Sinfonia and David Blake (conductor), Antara, Arditti and Chilingirian String Quartets, St Paul Chamber Orchestra (USA), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival/Opera North, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, City of London, Three Choirs and Lichfield festivals, Stephen Darlington and the choir of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, the choir of Merton College Oxford, Susan Milan, Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennett, Simon Desbruslais, Clare Hammond. Edward Wickham and The Clerks’ Group, Teresa Cahill, Leon Fleisher, Tasmin Little, Steven Isserlis, Mstislav Rostropovich, John Wallace and the Raphael Wallfisch and John York duo.

He was Professor of Composition at Oxford University and tutorial fellow in music at Worcester College from 1999 until his retirement in 2021. He has been Composer-in Association at the Purcell School for Young Musicians since 2013 and was appointed Hon Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music in 2021. His music from 1972 until 1998 was published by Chester/Music Sales and, since then, by the University of York Music Press and Ricordi (Berlin). Recordings have appeared on the Sony Classical, Hyperion, Metier, EMI , NMC, Divine Art and Signum labels.

Recent works include the opera The Wandering Jew; a song cycle for baritone Roderick Williams, Time and the Seasons for the Oxford Lieder Festival in 2013; Hortus Musicae books 1 and 2, a piano cycle for pianist Clare Hammond; The Resurrection of the Soldiers, commissioned jointly by George Vass for the 2016 Presteigne Festival and the English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods; Shakespeare Scenes, commissioned by the Orchestra of the Swan and trumpeter Simon Desbruslais; his fourth string quartet, for the Kreutzer Quartet; Suite for violinist Madeleine Mitchell and pianist Clare Hammond; A Hymn to the Thames for oboist James Turnbull and the St Paul’s Sinfonia; and Fantasy Pieces for the Fidelio Trio. Jonathan Clinch premiered Tombeau for HB for organ in autumn 2022 and has commissioned a major organ cycle as part of a project with the Royal Academy of Music; the English Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Woods premiered Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh in Oxford in March 2023.

Recent recordings include a CD of piano music on Toccata Classics, Shakespeare Scenes on Signum; a portrait CD on Metier released in September 2022 and a CD of organ works performed by Jonathan Clinch released in October 2022.

Robert Saxton is married to the soprano Teresa Cahill.

Headshot of Emanuela Vai

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Emanuela Vai

Headshot of Emanuela Vai

Dr Emanuela Vai

Senior Research Fellow

Head of the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments

Head of Research (Humanities)

Education

BA MMus MEd (Cambridge), MPhil PhD (St Andrews)

I am Head of Research (Humanities) and Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Hill Collection of Musical Instruments at the Ashmolean Museum; and I lead on all conservation, research and curatorial aspects at the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments at the University of Oxford. Previously, I have held positions at the University of Oxford as Scott Opler Fellow; at the University of Cambridge; at the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York (CREMS); at the Centre d’études supérieures de la Renaissance de Tours (CESR); and at the Harvard Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti, where I was Hanna Kiel Fellow.

My work has received the support of fellowships and grants from the British Academy, the Society for Renaissance Studies, the Royal Historical Society, the Renaissance Society of America, the Kress Foundation, the École Pratique des Hautes Études, the Academia Belgica and the Newton Trust at the University of Cambridge, among others.

I champion the public engagement of academic research, working across a diversity of cultural heritage and digital humanities projects, serving as consultant and advisor for international institutions and associations, with the aim of building and improving partnerships between academia, policy and industry for the study and preservation of tangible and intangible culture. I have appeared on several radio shows on these topics.

I also act as a mentor for early career researchers, and I serve as an advisory member for international cultural heritage projects in Europe and the US. At Oxford, I continue to serve as the Research Staff Representative for the Humanities Division and the Conference of Colleges, and I sit on the Humanities Research Committee and Divisional Board, as well as on Governing Body at Worcester College.

I am the Director in Humanities at AISUK, with the aim of promoting scientific collaborations between Italian and British academic institutions and research centres in the public and private sector, through scientific events and other initiatives such as mentoring and support for graduate students and junior researchers.

Headshot of Jennifer Walshe

Fellow & Tutor in Music

Professor Jennifer Walshe

Headshot of Jennifer Walshe

Professor Jennifer Walshe

Fellow & Tutor in Music

Professor of Composition

Education

Bmus (RSAMD), PhD (Northwestern)

‘The most original compositional voice to emerge from Ireland in the past 20 years’ (The Irish Times) and ‘Wild girl of Darmstadt’ (Frankfurter Rundschau), composer and performer Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her music has been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world. She has been the recipient of fellowships and prizes from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm, the Internationales Musikinstitut, Darmstadt and Akademie Schloss Solitude among others.

Recent projects include TIME TIME TIME, an opera written in collaboration with the philosopher Timothy Morton, and THE SITE OF AN INVESTIGATION, a 30-minute epic for Walshe’s voice and orchestra, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. THE SITE has been performed by Walshe and the NSO, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and also the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra. Walshe has worked extensively with AI. ULTRACHUNK, made in collaboration with Memo Akten in 2018, features an AI-generated version of Walshe. A Late Anthology of Early Music Vol. 1: Ancient to Renaissance, her third solo album, released on Tetbind in 2020, uses AI to rework canonical works from early Western music history. A Late Anthology was chosen as an album of the year in The Irish Times, The Wire and The Quietus.

Walshe is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Oxford. Her work has been profiled by Alex Ross in The New Yorker and by Andrew Dickson in The New York Times.

Students singing in the Chapel

The Oxford Choral Experience

The Oxford Choral Experience is a unique access programme offered free of charge to UK state school students looking to do ambitious singing at university. We’re delighted that the programme is supported by professional musicians and world-class practitioners who share their expertise with the participants.

We prioritise places for academically promising students from backgrounds under-represented at Oxford, offering them the opportunity to experience high-level music-making and make informed decisions about university applications.

Read more about the Oxford Choral Experience

Music society concert

Worcester College Music Society

All students at Worcester are invited to join the music society, whether they’re reading Music or not. We organise concerts once or twice a term, with each event being welcome to all. The Music Society strives to create relaxed environments in which instrumentalists and singers can perform with little pressure. Laid-back performing opportunities are important for musicians, especially in a place as demanding as Oxford.

At Worcester, we’re also determined to support our peers in musical endeavours both within College and outside. Each term, we make an effort to share dates on an interactive calendar, so that every student’s talents can be shared and celebrated. Our activities span the JCR, MCR and SCR, and there are regular points throughout term at which students can sign-up and get involved.

Follow WCMS on Instagram

Recent events

Students singing in the Chapel

Singing workshop at The Oxford Choral Experience

Audience at an outdoor concert

Concert of classical Indian ragas by sunset

The Teyber Trio stood on stage in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

The Teyber Trio perform Bach's 'Goldberg Variations'

Choir and orchestra in the dining hall

Choir & orchestra perform Fauré's 'Requiem'

Experimental performance with meteorites in the Worcester Chapel

Music for Meteorites with Professor Jennifer Walshe

Vlad Waltham on stage in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Cellist Vladimir Waltham performs in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

College choir singing carols on a staircase

Christmas concert in the Provost's Lodgings

Choir singing in parish church

Rehearsing for a service in a local parish church

La Scala quintet in the Worcester College Chapel

Quintet of La Scala Milan perform in the College Chapel

Students singing in the Chapel

Singing workshop at The Oxford Choral Experience

Audience at an outdoor concert

Concert of classical Indian ragas by sunset

The Teyber Trio stood on stage in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

The Teyber Trio perform Bach's 'Goldberg Variations'

Choir and orchestra in the dining hall

Choir & orchestra perform Fauré's 'Requiem'

Experimental performance with meteorites in the Worcester Chapel

Music for Meteorites with Professor Jennifer Walshe

Vlad Waltham on stage in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Cellist Vladimir Waltham performs in the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

College choir singing carols on a staircase

Christmas concert in the Provost's Lodgings

Choir singing in parish church

Rehearsing for a service in a local parish church

La Scala quintet in the Worcester College Chapel

Quintet of La Scala Milan perform in the College Chapel

What’s happening?

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