Music at Pusey House
Pusey House has a well-established tradition of offering fine choral music to support and beautify the liturgical life of the House. The Choir of Pusey House is a young-professional mixed chamber choir, which provides music for the weekly Sunday Mass, special feast days, carol services and concerts. The Choir is made up of seven graduate and undergraduate Lay Clerks, largely drawn from the Chapel Choirs of The Queen’s, Merton, and Exeter College. They sing from a broad and diverse repertoire of sacred music, from Gregorian chant to the present day. While Tudor and Spanish polyphony have always been an integral part of Pusey’s musical life, the Choir has recently expanded its repertoire to explore many of the great eight-part masses of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The current choir carries on in a robust musical tradition. In July 2017, the Choir undertook a successful tour of Rome (its second in recent years). The choir can also be heard in two CDs including Plorans Ploravit (2011). Recent directors of music and organists have also gone on to impressive careers, our two most recent, Maks Adach and Ben Cunningham have gone on to positions at Lichfield Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. The Choir always welcomes introductions from interested singers and organists, and is ably assisted by a list of deputies from in and around Oxford.
Pusey’s vibrant musical activity this year has been invigorated by the newly functional 1908 J. W. Walker organ. While work continues to fine-tune the instrument, we are delighted to report that with the help of Ian Bell, our organ advisor, and the craftsmen of F. H. Browne & Sons, the instrument is not only playable, but rapidly coming into its musical and technical potential.
The music of Pusey House is supported by a generous grant from the Ouseley Church Music Trust.
The current choir carries on in a robust musical tradition. In July 2017, the Choir undertook a successful tour of Rome (its second in recent years). The choir can also be heard in two CDs including Plorans Ploravit (2011). Recent directors of music and organists have also gone on to impressive careers, our two most recent, Maks Adach and Ben Cunningham have gone on to positions at Lichfield Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. The Choir always welcomes introductions from interested singers and organists, and is ably assisted by a list of deputies from in and around Oxford.
Pusey’s vibrant musical activity this year has been invigorated by the newly functional 1908 J. W. Walker organ. While work continues to fine-tune the instrument, we are delighted to report that with the help of Ian Bell, our organ advisor, and the craftsmen of F. H. Browne & Sons, the instrument is not only playable, but rapidly coming into its musical and technical potential.
The music of Pusey House is supported by a generous grant from the Ouseley Church Music Trust.
