Choir of New College Oxford Sings in SB

One of the most highly regarded choral groups in the United Kingdom performs in Santa Barbara as part of a unique local partnership. The Choir of New College Oxford, first established in 1379, will perform Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State Street. Tickets, which cost $20 for general admission, $10 for students, may be purchased online (westmont.edu/oxfordconcert) or at the door (pending availability). The concert, which features a pipe organ from 1965, will last 90 minutes with a brief intermission. The event is sponsored by Westmont, Trinity Episcopal Church, Community Arts Music Association and The American Guild of Organists.

The choir includes 15 boy choristers and 13 adult clerks, who are professional singers and/or undergraduate members of the college.

“To bring an English men-and-boy choir of such distinction to Santa Barbara is a rare opportunity for the community,” says Grey Brothers, Westmont music professor and minister of choral and congregational music at Trinity Episcopal Church. “With its stunning visual and acoustical space, Trinity Episcopal is the ideal venue for the evening concert.”

The choir will also perform earlier in the day at Westmont chapel at 10:30 a.m. in Murchison Gym. “The primary purpose of this choir is singing Evensong in the college chapel in Oxford multiple times each week,” says Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship. “Few Westmont students have experienced this tradition of worship that has been at New College for more than 600 years.”