Oxford Pro Musica Singers presents a thrilling programme of two of the twentieth Century’s most deeply felt choral masterpieces: Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir and Duruflé’s Requiem. Both perfectionists whose music is at once sensuous and transcendent, Martin’s inventive and expressive a cappella writing is the perfect complement to Duruflé’s fusion of spare plainsong, rich harmony and sumptuous organ accompaniment.

Rescued from a drawer where it had languished for forty years, Martin’s Mass is his only work for unaccompanied voices. His deployment of the two choirs feels almost organic in its ebb and flow – at times angular and rhythmic, at others sinuous – creating an endlessly shifting soundscape of voices which yet remains in the service of the text and its spiritual meaning. From the flexuous supplications of the ‘Kyrie’, through the ecstatic climaxes of the Gloria and Sanctus, we come to rest in the plangent ‘Agnus Dei’ which he added to the original work four years later, in 1926. Here the second choir provides a rhythmical chant as a foundation for the first choir’s beseeching melody, which builds in emotive power. The result is a truly mesmeric ending to this wonderful work.

Where Martin's background was Calvinist, Duruflé was a staunch catholic and his Requiem of 1947 – the overall shape of which is indebted to the Fauré – is firmly rooted in the timeless rhythms and melodies of plainchant. However, he melds these with lush contemporary harmonies to produce an original and utterly luminous work. Like his predecessor, Duruflé limits the hellfire (though it features in a couple of exciting episodes) and shifts the focus to a transcendent vision of eternal rest. From the organ’s limpid ripples beneath the opening intonations to the dazzling climaxes of the ‘Kyrie’ and ‘Sanctus’ in particular, Duruflé never loses sight of the beauty and rapture of the perpetual light. Our concert could find no better ending than the ethereal ‘In Paradisum’, where angelic sopranos lead you out of the organ’s shimmer until the full choir eases you over the final threshold, leaving you on a glimmering unresolved chord that fades into peace.

We hope that you will join us in the appropriately French atmosphere of Exeter College Chapel for this meditative journey that will surely leave your spirit in a place of bliss.

Three important composer anniversaries inspire a programme of delightfully eclectic choral music from the City of Oxford Choir.

50 years on from the death of Benjamin Britten we perform his tremendous Flower Songs, delightful poetic texts celebrating the beauty - and the slimy roots - of Fair Daffodils, the Evening Primrose and Marsh Flowers. 

To complement we add the Mass by Imogen Holst. Holst helped Britten for many years, serving as his musical assistant, and orchestrating several of his works (including Rejoice in the Lamb). The Mass in A-minor was written after the model of Vaughan Williams’ much-loved Mass in G-minor, but with a highly personal and distinctive voice.

100 years after the death of Charles Wood, we will sing his loveliest anthem, Expectans Expectavi, while the 150th anniversary of the death of SS Wesley inspires the inclusion of the dramatic cantata - The Wilderness.

The programme is completed by delicious contemporary musings on the nature of earthly beauty by Matthew Podd (There will come soft rains), Frank Ticheli (Earth Song), and Jonathan Dove (In beauty may I walk).

All Saints’ Hastings has a fine ‘Doom painting’ dating from about the 15th century, and Richard’s programme, ‘The Last Judgement’ responds to this.

Giuseppe Verdi’s epic setting of the Requiem in Richard Blackford’s arrangement for Organ, two Pianos, and percussion.

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana as part of Leicester MusicFest’s 10th anniversary celebrations.

A programme celebrating the legacy of the Oxford Movement through the music of Ouseley, Stainer, and Parry.

Richard gives a recital of music contained within the Andreas Bach Book, a volume of music which Johann Sebastian repeatedly stole from his older brother to copy in the night. The performance ends with a performance of the Passacaglia (BWV 582), a synthesis of the music contained within the book.

Maurice Duruflé’s stunning Requiem in its liturgical setting.

Exploring the Andreas-Bach-Buch with the iconic Frobenius organ of The Queen’s College, Oxford.

With Frideswide Voices and the Clerks of Christ Church,

With Frideswide Voices and the Clerks of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Music including Mozart Fantasia in F minor (KV 608).

Part of the 250th celebrations at Sées Cathedral, Normandy.

Richard performs an organ recital at Westminster Abbey, London.

Joining the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, Richard gives a recital at Southwark Cathedral.

Back by popular demand to the beautiful church of All Saints’, Hertford!

Richard performs an organ recital at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.

Richard performs an organ recital in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Richard performs an organ recital at the Transitional Cathedral, Latimer Square.

Richard performs an organ recital including a performance of Arthur Bliss's Praeludium at St Michael’s Church, Cornhill.