Girl Choristers make debut at Bach’s churches in Leipzig:
26 August 2026, 5pm – Lutherkirche, Leipzig (Informal Concert)
27 August, 7:30pm – Nikolaikirche, Leipzig
29 August, 6pm – Berliner Dom
The Girl Choristers of Merton College, Oxford
Benjamin Nicholas director
François Cloete organ, piano, chamber organ
Benjamin Nicholas brings The Girl Choristers of Merton College, Oxford on tour to Germany for their debut at Bach’s iconic churches in Leipzig, ahead of the 300th anniversary concert of Bach’s St Matthew Passion next spring in Oxford. Their rich and varied programme in Leipzig (26, 27 August) and Berlin (29 August) marks the choir’s ten-year anniversary.
Merton was the second former all-male college to elect a female Warden. Twenty-two years later in 2016, Benjamin Nicholas established the Merton College Girl Choristers programme, the first of its kind among the Oxford Colleges. In August this year, marking ten-years since their formation, the Choristers of Merton College, Oxford continue their trailblazing journey with concerts in Bach’s Nikolaikirche and Lutherkirche, home to the Thomanerchor, made up of boy choristers from Leipzig’s Thomasschule. Benjamin Nicholas and the Girl Choristers share a programme of Bach alongside his successors in the German choral tradition and English counterparts old and new, with a programme spanning Mendelssohn, Bryd, Pärt, Roxanna Panufnik, Ireland and Stanford. They are accompanied by organist François Cloete, an award-winning Merton graduate now affiliated with Westminster Abbey and recently appointed Assistant Organist at Merton.
From Bach’s churches to Mendelssohn’s; the choristers then perform a concert in the Berliner Dom, where Mendelssohn was appointed Director of Music in 1842 by King Frederick William IV. The choir fill this magnificent neo-baroque and neo-renaissance space with a distilled version of their Leipzig programme. Arvo Pärt’s Vater Unser, which the Girl Choristers are shortly due to record, and other choral masterworks will resound in the space, with its atmospheric 10-second echo.
The Choir of Merton College, Oxford tour Canada and the US in September 2026 with concerts and choral evensongs in Victoria, San Francisco and Greenwich, culminating in a memorial concert in St Ignatius Loyola, New York to commemorate 25 years since the September 11 Twin Tower attacks.
Their programme features further contemporary choral treasures, including commissions written specifically for the choir: Matthew Martin’s Christiani plaudite is due for CD release next year, and Dobrinka Tabakova’s Alma redemptoris mater is available on the choir’s recent disc Advent at Merton. Tabakova’s music is particularly familiar on New York’s concert scene with her orchestral composition The High Line inspired by New York’s famous linear park built on a historic railway line. She also won First Prize and Medallion at the 2011 Sorel Choral Composition Contest in New York.
Howells Take him, earth, for cherishing was written for the memorial of another tragic event in American history. After J.F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, a joint American-Canadian memorial service was planned in Washington D.C. Howells completed the acapella work in early 1964, and it was performed on the first anniversary of Kennedy’s death. He sets a passage from a 4th-century Latin poem by Prudentius (Hymnus circa Exsequias Defuncti) “Take him, earth, for cherishing, to thy tender breast receive him.” Howells originally considered this text for his requiem Hymnus Paradisi, a memorial to his nine-year-old son Michael who died suddenly of polio in 1935, but ultimately did not include it, instead employing it in this similarly poignant choral reflection years later.
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Programmes
GERMAN TOUR 26 August 2026, 5pm – Lutherkirche, Leipzig (Informal Concert) 27 August, 7:30pm – Nikolaikirche, Leipzig 29 August, 6pm – Berliner Dom
Girl Choristers make debut at Bach’s Churches in Leipzig REPERTOIRE TO INCLUDE: BYRD Teach me, O Lord; BACH Auf meinen Lieben Gott BWV 646 & Kommst du nun, Jesu BWV 650; HAYDN Benedictus (Missa Sancti Johannis de Deo); MENDELSSOHN If with all your hearts (Elijah) & Laudate Pueri; STANFORD A Song of Wisdom; IRELAND Ex ore innocentium; ROXANNA PANUFNIK Ubi caritas et amor; PÄRT Vater Unser; TRAD (arr. Gordon Jacobs) Brother James’ Air; TRAD. (arr. John Scott) How can I keep from singing?
The Girl Choristers of Merton College, Oxford Benjamin Nicholas director François Cloete organ, piano, chamber organ
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 7 September 2026, 2:30pm – Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver Island 10 Sept, 5:30pm – Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (Evensong) 11 Sept, 7pm – Grace Cathedral, San Francisco 14 Sept, 7pm – Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia 15 Sept, 5:30pm – St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, NYC (Evensong) 17 Sept, 7pm – St Ignatius Loyola, Park Avenue, NYC
The Choir of Merton College, Oxford REPERTOIRE TO INCLUDE: MATTHEW MARTIN Christiani plaudite; GIBBONS O clap your hands together; DOBRINKA TABAKOVA Alma redemptoris mater; DURUFLÉ Sicilienne (Suite Op. 5) (organ solo); TALLIS Loquebantur variis linguis; BACH Der Geist Hilft BWV 226; ELGAR Presto (Sonata in G op. 28) (organ solo); HOWELLS Take him, earth, for cherishing; BAIRSTOW Blessed City, heavenly salem
The Choir of Merton College, Oxford Benjamin Nicholas director François Cloete organ |
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Upcoming Album Releases
For the Merton College’s 750th Anniversary in 2014, many composers were commissioned to write for the Merton Choirbook, an important collection of some 50 choral and organ compositions. Future releases by the Girl Choristers include a recording of 21st Century works, many of which were written specifically for the choir by some of the foremost choral composers including Daniel Kidane, James MacMillan, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and David Lang. Alongside these works they include some repertoire they are touring in Germany, such as Arvo Pärt’s Vater Unser. |
On 6 November 2026 the combined Choirs of Merton release Benjamin Britten: A Boy was Born / Ceremony of Carols on Delphian Records, with whom they have a longstanding relationship. Their performances illuminate Britten’s extraordinary gift for writing for young singers alongside his instinctive understanding of the English choral tradition, bringing out the qualities of a composer whose technical brilliance is matched by emotional immediacy in music that is enduringly rewarding for performers and listeners alike.
