The Oxford Choral Experience

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).

Zoe leads the work of the Access and Admissions teams, overseeing the undergraduate admissions process and outreach with schools and prospective applicants.

Originally from Lancashire, the Revd Marcus Green arrived in Oxford as a student in the mid-80s and read History at Merton and Theology at Wycliffe Hall, before being ordained into the Church in Wales. As far as he knows, he was the first member of his family ever to go to university or get ordained.

He is passionate about worship in the Christian community, particularly music in worship, and has led choirs, orchestras, contemporary worship groups and even jazz bands in different church settings. His first book, Salvation’s Song, is a theology of the cross as worship.

More recently, both nationally and especially within Oxford Diocese, Marcus has been a prominent voice calling for LGBTQ+ equality within the Church. Simply put, he believes that every person is equal and equally loved by God. His second book, The Possibility of Difference, a biblical affirmation of such inclusion, is published by Kevin Mayhew.

Marcus shares his house with a large and (too) friendly Springer Spaniel called Harry, skis badly, is part of the Red half of Manchester, loves opera, runs a community swing band, once won The Weakest Link, and has been known to go to Italy just for the ice cream.

Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong association with choral music, as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and as a member of the King’s Singers. He became a full-time composer and conductor in 1997, and has composed a large catalogue of choral music which is published by Oxford University Press. His most often performed pieces include Can you hear me?, A Little Jazz Mass, Requiem, and the St John Passion.

Bob has directed choirs in more than 30 countries worldwide and conducts many thousands of amateur singers in a continuing series of Singing Days. Since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and since 2019 Principal Conductor of Birmingham University Singers.

His music has been widely recorded by leading British choirs and groups including The King’s Singers, King’s College, Cambridge, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, The BBC Singers, The Bach Choir, Commotio, and Ora. Circlesong, recorded by the Houston chamber Choir and Treble Choir of Houston, was released by Signum in January 2022, and his second disc with NFM Wroclaw, Canticles of Light, in January 2023. November 2023 has seen the release of Christmas Oratorio recorded by The Choir of Merton College, Oxford on Delphian and Mary, Mother by St Martin’s Voices on Resonus.

Paul McCreesh is renowned for the energy and passion of his musicianship and the interpretative insight he brings to repertoire of the widest stylistic and historical breadth. His authoritative performances are founded on uncompromising drive and vision, alongside a hunger for new challenges.

First established as the Artistic Director of Gabrieli Consort & Players, he now guest-conducts some of the world’s finest orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bergen Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Dallas Symphony. He is a former Principal Conductor and Artistic Director at the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, and served for six seasons as Artistic Director of the Wratislavia Cantans festival in Wrocław, Poland.

At the heart of McCreesh’s music-making is a determination to broaden access to the arts. In the UK he leads Gabrieli’s Roar project for young singers and is renowned for his ambition in expanding opportunities in music education for all.

McCreesh’s ever-questioning spirit makes him a difficult artist to categorise; he is as likely to be found conducting Purcell’s theatre works as Elgar’s symphonies or an a cappella part song. He is particularly known for his performances of major choral works such as Britten’s War Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Verdi’s Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons. He brings to all this repertoire the same rigorous scholarship and interpretative flair that defined his early career, continuing to confirm his reputation for innovation. With a 30-year recording career which includes many iconic projects and numerous award-winning benchmark recordings, he is well known as one of today’s most highly regarded recording artists.