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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford - plainchant to the present day, in Oxford’s greatest buildings
5
days
from
£2,780
Book today with a deposit from
£417
27th September 2027 - 1st October 2027
Festival highlights
- Sixteen concerts in seven historic Oxford colleges, which open their doors for us alone.
- The complete Divine Office — all eight services of the monastic day, sung at the hours they were written for, from 1.00am to about 10.00pm — is a cycle very few people now living have heard in full.
- Some of the most prestigious names in the choral and early-music worlds appear: The Tallis Scholars, Tenebrae, Gesualdo Six, The Marian Consort, Carice Singers, Collegium Gregorianum, Academy of Ancient Music and Gabrieli Consort & Players.
- The oldest and finest of college choirs participate – Magdalen, Merton, New College and Queen’s College all perform in their own colleges.
- The music spans five hundred years in five days, from Tudor polyphony to Bach's 'Magnificat', Duruflé's 'Requiem' and Joby Talbot's 'Path of Miracles'.
- Music, time and place all interweave – New College's programme presents music for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels the day before it takes place, while Magdalen's 'The Oxford Tradition' highlights connections between key composers (Sheppard, Taverner, Parry) and the city.
- Based in Oxford throughout – architecturally magnificent, wonderfully walkable and deeply intertwined with the choral tradition.
- Musicologist and conductor Jeremy Summerly gives daily talks placing each day's music and the Divine Office itself in context.
Sixteen concerts, including the complete Divine Office: this choral festival is a remarkable musical, architectural and spiritual experience. Of all our Martin Randall Festivals, this is the one that encapsulates how unique and genuinely ground-breaking they are in concept. The heart of this festival is the Divine Office – the eight services of the monastic day, performed at the intended times, beginning at 1.00am and ending at about 10.00pm.
The offices in the small hours are some of the rarest and most memorable musical experiences that exist – it is something extraordinary to enter the hushed, candlelit chapel of a historic Oxford college, closed to all others, to hear some of the top professional choirs in the world perform a sequence of chant and polyphony, interspersed with readings. Each office represents a different Christian feast or period (Advent, Easter and so on), and as you travel through the day, you also travel musically through the year.
But this is only one part of a choral festival of the highest order. We not only have the top college choirs perform for us in their own colleges (New, Merton, Magdalen, Queen’s), but the professional ensembles who appear are a roll call of some of the most prestigious names in the choral and early-music worlds: Gesualdo Six, Tenebrae, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort & Players, The Marian Consort and Carice Singers all take part. Musicologist and conductor Jeremy Summerly gives daily talks placing the music and the Divine Office itself in context.
The music spans from plainchant to the present day, with wonderful connections to time or place: Magdalen Choir presents ‘The Oxford Tradition’, a celebration of the many connections between key composers and the city (Sheppard, Taverner, Parry); New College interweaves music relating to the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, just the day before it takes place; and concerts such as Tenebrae’s Path of Miracles and The Carice Singers’ Love Divine could not be more appropriate counterparts to the Divine Office day.
Masterpieces such as Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Duruflé’s Requiem bring splendour and great emotion, and Gabrieli Consort & Players close the festival with A Venetian Coronation, with fitting pomp and majesty.
Oxford is just as much a part of the festival as the music and the performers. Its historic colleges are architecturally magnificent, and deeply connected with both monastic and musical traditions, and other landmarks include the Sheldonian Theatre and the Bodleian Library. This is a festival that lets you experience Oxford in a way rarely available to the public.
Videos
Brochure
Musicians
Programme
Getting to Oxford: There are regular direct trains from London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bournemouth and various other places, and there are frequent coach services from London.
Arriving by car: all Oxford authorities discourage the use of cars. Parking is available at some hotels (see 'Travel advice'), but not at the colleges.
The festival begins for all participants at 2.30pm with a talk by Jeremy Summerly. Optional walks will be available late morning for those who arrive earlier, details sent at a later stage.
The ambitions and endowment of Magdalen exceeded those of all previous foundations when established by Bishop Waynflete in 1458. Reformation iconoclasm was made good by 19th-century restorations and the glorious chapel is little changed since it was built in 1474–80. Waynflete made provision for eight clerks, four chaplains, 16 choristers and an Informator Choristarum. John Sheppard was among the many distinguished holders of this post (1543–48).
Concert, 4.00pm on Monday
or 11.30am on Tuesday:
Magdalen College Chapel
Magdalen College Choir
Mark Williams director
The Oxford Tradition
A celebration of choral music by composers associated with the University of Oxford. To include works by John Sheppard, John Taverner, Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tomkins, Hubert Parry, William Walton, and Judith Weir.
There are earlier foundations, but by the generosity of its endowment and by the prescriptions of its 1264 statutes, Merton qualifies as the first fully-fledged college in either Oxford or Cambridge. The chapel is also Oxford’s earliest, and many hold it to be the most beautiful. From the outset, there was provision for vocal music to accompany the liturgy.
Concert, 4.00pm on Monday
or 2.15pm on Tuesday:
Merton College Chapel
Merton College Choir
Benjamin Nicholas director
Duruflé’s Requiem
2027 marks the 80th anniversary of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, a work of extraordinary meditative and spiritual power. Duruflé first encountered chant as a choirboy in Rouen, and it remained central to his musical imagination throughout his life. In the Requiem, plainsong provides the foundation for a richly coloured musical landscape, encompassing quiet contemplation and remarkable intensity. A meticulous and highly self-critical composer, Duruflé left behind only a small body of works, often reworking pieces again and again. This programme pairs the Requiem with his Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, four exquisitely crafted miniatures inspired by Gregorian chant, including the much-loved Ubi caritas.
Concert, 6.45pm or 9.00pm:
All Souls
Gesualdo Six
Owain Park director
The Wishing Tree
Birdsong, chirping crickets, and nostalgia for seemingly endless childhood summers weave through this exploration of nature and memory. Byrd’s joyful This sweet and merry month of May and Gibbons’s evocative The Silver Swan imagine a natural world entwined with human emotion. Moving between past and present, Vaughan Williams’s Bushes and Briars and Stanford’s The Blue Bird meet Alison Willis’s haunting The Wind’s Warning, while fresh arrangements of folksongs make familiar tunes new again. Across centuries of a cappella music, the pastoral landscape and reminiscence become inseparable, capturing our innately human longing for the natural world.
Dinner is provided, either before or after the evening performance (depending on the time you attend), in one of the colleges or in hotel restaurants.
The day begins with a talk on the music, some free time or an optional walk with one of our architectural experts.
Concert, 4.00pm on Monday
or 11.30am on Tuesday:
Magdalen College Chapel
Magdalen College Choir
Mark Williams director
See Day 1.
Concert, 4.00pm on Monday
or 2.15pm on Tuesday:
Merton College Chapel
Merton College Choir
Benjamin Nicholas director
See Day 1.
New College enjoyed unprecedented munificence when founded by William of Wykeham in 1379, and its chapel is the biggest of the medieval new-builds in Oxford. The college was the first to be planned around a large quadrangle, and the first in which there were lodgings for undergraduates as well as for fellows. From the outset there was provision for ten chaplains, three clerks and 16 choristers.
Concert, 6.00pm:
New College Chapel
New College Choir
Robert Quinney director
The Feast of St Michael and All Angels
Michaelmas marks a turn towards Autumn, the end of harvest, and St Michael’s protection against the gathering darkness. Music has always offered a way of approaching the divine: giving voice to experiences that lie beyond earthly knowledge. Guerrero’s Maria Magdalena offers jubilant articulation to the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb, while Victoria’s sumptuous Ave Maria surrounds listeners in richly woven antiphony. Howells’s formidable A Sequence for St Michael invokes the Archangel while recalling his own son Michael, whose early death resonated throughout his music. In MacMillan’s mystical From the hand of the angel, angelic voices swirl around declamatory plainsong. Together, these works give sound to revelation.
Dinner for all participants in New College Hall.
Concert, 9.00pm:
New College Chapel
Tenebrae
Nigel Short director
Path of Miracles
For centuries, pilgrims have followed the Camino de Santiago in search of transcendence. Protean British composer Joby Talbot transforms this physical and spiritual journey into an intensely immersive – almost cinematic – a cappella experience. Written for Tenebrae in 2005, Path of Miracles follows the four great staging posts on the Camino Francés, drawing the listener into a soundworld at once haunting, exhilarating, and a touch unsettling. Medieval texts and pilgrims’ songs collide with extraordinary vocal effects, demanding acute intensity from the singers and traversing extremes of emotion. The result is a compelling musical tour de force.
Morning talk on the music, and free time or optional walks.
Though founded in 1340, no trace of the medieval buildings of Queen’s College survive as it was entirely rebuilt in the decades around 1700. The result is a pleasing version of English Baroque with a screen to the High Street which constitutes the finest stretch of Classicism in Oxford. The chapel is marked by its restrained beauty and excellent acoustics.
Concert, 12.00 noon or 2.15pm:
Queen’s College Chapel
Carice Singers
George Parris director
Love Divine
Pomegranates and honey, milk and wine, fragrant spices and perfumed skin: the Song of Songs indulges in the sensuality of human desire. Its poetry has captivated composers for centuries, its language of earthly love entwined with that of the divine. Palestrina demonstrates remarkable expressive range, from the boldness of Quae est ista to the delicacy of Sicut lilium, presented alongside Jean L’Héritier’s Nigra sum sed formosa and Clemens non Papa’s Ego flos campi. Four centuries later, French composer and organist Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur returned to this ancient poetry in Le Cantique des Cantiques, a virtuosic work for twelve solo voices that interweaves Latin and New Testament texts in an alluring tapestry of vocal colour.
Built in 1664–69, the Sheldonian was Christopher Wren’s first substantial commission, an attempt to recreate the open-air theatres of antiquity for the ceremonies of the university. Roman precedent yields to English ingenuity in the timber roof, which spans the auditorium without columns beneath a ceiling painted by Robert Streater. The screen of herms to Broad Street is justly celebrated.
Concert, 6.00pm:
Sheldonian Theatre
Queen’s College Choir
Owen Rees director
Academy of Ancient Music
Baroque Splendour: Magnificat & Dixit Dominus
Bach and Handel were born just weeks apart in 1685, yet never met – despite Bach trying at least twice. Their careers took strikingly different paths. Bach remained rooted in Germany, absorbing international influences largely through the music that reached him, while Handel travelled across Europe soaking up international celebrity. The youthful Dixit Dominus, written during Handel’s time in Italy, fizzes with the vivacious theatricality of the Italian Baroque; Bach’s triumphant Magnificat matches it in virtuosity and brilliance. Both pieces make thrilling use of their vocal forces, moving between dazzling full choruses and intimate solo combinations: two patently different individuals united by masterful command of voice and instrument.
Dinner this evening is independent.
The Tallis Scholars and Collegium Gregorianum perform in one venue and The Marian Consort in the other, for each office. The two audience streams move between them, so hear each in equal measure.
MATINS, 1.00am
Merton College Chapel
or
Magdalen College Chapel
The liturgical day starts with the Night Office. Traditionally built from two or three “nocturns” of psalms, readings and responsories, it was historically sung by monastic communities in the depths of the night, long before later centuries moved it to a more convenient hour.
LAUDS, 4.00am
Queen’s College Chapel
or
Magdalen College Chapel
Also called Morning Prayer, in high summer Lauds might take place at daybreak. Its psalms of praise and the Benedictus canticle are threaded through with images of light and dawn, making it a natural companion to the sunrise it anticipates.
PRIME, 6.30am
Queen’s College Chapel
or
Merton College Chapel
A short service is the first of the ‘Little Hours’, timed so that the congregations enter the chapels before dawn and leave in daylight. It was in fact the last of the Little Hours to be introduced historically, added to give monastic communities a formal start to the working day, and was later suppressed in the Roman rite’s 20th-century reforms as an unnecessary duplication of Lauds.
TERCE & MASS, 9.15am
New College Chapel
The second of the ‘Little Hours’ is followed immediately by Morning
Mass, the principal service of the
Catholic Church. Both streams come together for this office. Terce is traditionally linked to the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which the Acts of the Apostles records as having taken place ‘at the third hour of the day’.
SEXT, 12.00 noon
University College Chapel
or
Exeter College Chapel
The third of the ‘Little Hours’ is at the ‘sixth’ hour, according to the system by which twelve hours are counted from dawn to sundown. It also recalls the vision granted to St Peter on a rooftop in Jaffa, which the Acts of the Apostles places ‘about the sixth hour’.
NONE, 3.30pm
Magdalen College Chapel
or
Exeter College Chapel
The last of the ‘Little Hours’, with a duration of about half an hour. Its name comes from ‘nona hora’, the ninth hour of the Roman day, traditionally held to be the hour of Christ’s death on the cross.
VESPERS, 6.45pm
Magdalen College Chapel
or
University College Chapel
This office takes its name from the Latin vesper (roughly meaning ‘evening’), and its rite grew out of the ancient lucernarium, the lighting of lamps at dusk that marked the close of the working day in the earliest Christian communities. At its heart lies the Magnificat, the canticle of the Virgin Mary, sung daily at Vespers since antiquity and set to music by, among many others, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Mozart and Bruckner – making this one of the most musically celebrated of all the Offices.
Dinner follows, in the Bodleian Library for some and a historic college hall for others.
COMPLINE, 9.15pm
New College Chapel
The last Office of the day features the singing of the votive antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Traditionally sung by candlelight, it also includes Psalm 91, with its prayer for protection through the night, bringing the day’s cycle of prayer to a hushed and reflective close.
MRT staff lead from hotels for the night Offices and a coach is provided for those staying at the Old Parsonage.
The parish church of Oxford, University Church of St Mary, was also the place where all university ceremonies took place before the Sheldonian Theatre was opened in 1669, where the governing body gathered and where the embryonic library was first kept (in the oldest library building in the world). Even after the 17th century it continued to be used for university and public functions and concerts. It is exceptionally capacious for an English parish church but architecturally is no barn, ranking with the finest churches in the country.
Concert, 10.15am:
University Church of St Mary
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh director
A Venetian Coronation
The year is 1595. Step inside St Mark’s Basilica as the city of Venice celebrates the coronation of Doge Marino Grimani with instrumental and choral music on a spectacular scale. A Venetian Coronation recreates the splendour and ceremony of the occasion, drawing on the exuberant polychoral music of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Voices, cornetts, shawms, and sackbuts resound in compositions designed for the magnificent architecture of the Venetian Republic. First recorded in 1990, this celebrated reconstruction has since been transformed by the latest research into instruments and performance practice, bringing the pageantry of renaissance Venice thrillingly to life.
Immediately after the concert, coaches will be available to take you to the railway and coach stations.
Expert speaker
Mr Jeremy Summerly
Jeremy Summerly is Director of Studies in Music at Caius College, Cambridge, having previously been Director of Music at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and Head of Academic Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. He has conducted over 40 recordings spanning nine centuries of music, and given concert tours across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, including a performance of Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin sung across the River Jordan. He is Director of Music at St Luke’s, Chelsea, a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music, and a familiar voice on Radio 3 since the 1990s. Alongside conducting, he plays harpsichord, Baroque viola, and Renaissance and medieval instruments.
More tours led by Mr Jeremy Summerly
Practicalities
The price includes:
– All 16 concerts, including the eight monastic hours of the Divine Office.
– Accommodation for four nights – choose between five hotels and two colleges.
– Breakfasts, and three dinners (wine is included).
– Talks on the music by Jeremy Summerly.
– Coach transfers for some of the events, and for those staying at the Old Parsonage Hotel.
– All tips and taxes
– The assistance of festival staff and a detailed programme booklet.
Optional extras:
– Chapel and library walks, led by architectural historians. Details to be sent at a later date.
The Old Bank Hotel (5*), Price per person:
Two sharing:
Suite • £4,820
Junior Suite • £4,360
Superior Deluxe • £3,890
Deluxe • £3,690
Classic • £3,470
Single occupancy:
Superior Deluxe • £4,910
Deluxe • £4,760
Classic • £4,390
The Store (5*), price per person:
Two sharing:
Superior Terrace • £4,090
Super King • £3,680
Single occupancy:
Super King • £4,490
The Randolph (5*), price per person:
Two sharing:
Junior Suite • £3,870
Standard • £3,440
Single occupancy:
Standard • £4,220
The Old Parsonage (5*), price per person:
Two sharing:
Superior Deluxe • £3,380
Deluxe King • £3,120
Single occupancy:
Superior Deluxe • £4,230
Deluxe King • £3,970
Classic • £3,790
Eastgate Hotel (4*), price per person:
Two sharing:
Privilege (double use) • £2,970
Single occupancy:
Classic (sole use) • £3,210
Christ Church College, price per person:
Single occupancy:
En-suite room (sole use) • £2,990
New College, price per person:
Two sharing:
En-suite room (double use) • £2,780
Single occupancy:
En-suite room (sole use) • £2,870
There is a choice of five hotels and two colleges in Oxford.
Your choice of hotel or college accommodation is the sole determinant of the different prices.
There is also the option of arriving in your hotel a day before the festival begins (Sunday 26th September 2027).
We are happy to book extra hotel nights or a room upgrade, for which we charge an administration fee. However, it is often the case that you will find a better rate for extra nights by booking directly with the hotel rather than through us. Please note that there are not likely to be any rooms available at Christ Church College or New College before or after the festival.
New College
These are student rooms, with single beds – basic but smart and comfortable, with en-suite shower rooms (no baths). All have free Wi-Fi, a hospitality tray with kettle, fridge, linen, towels and toiletries; hairdryers are not provided.
What you sacrifice in comfort, you gain in the historic, cloistered setting of an ancient college. (There is no access to indoor common areas.)
A few double rooms are available; otherwise couples can request adjacent or nearby rooms, subject to availability.
There are no lifts and all floors require you to navigate at least one set of stairs. Porterage is not provided.
A full English or continental breakfast is served each morning in the medieval Hall. Other independent meals must be taken elsewhere.
Venues are within 900 metres on foot.
Christ Church College
Rooms at Christ Church are not on the main campus but across St Aldate’s, in a modern block a few minutes’ walk away. This means new, comfortable rooms with lift access, though without the college’s historic atmosphere. A cooked and continental breakfast buffet is served each morning in the Great Hall, reached via Tom Quad; other meals must be taken elsewhere.
St Aldate’s is a busy road with bus stops on both sides. Request a room at the back of the building if you think that the road noise may bother you. Note that rooms at the back of the building do not have a view.
Bedrooms are all student rooms with small double beds and en-suite bathrooms with showers (no baths). All have fridges, hairdryers, tea and coffee facilities, free Wi-Fi and a toiletry welcome pack. Adjacent rooms can be requested for couples, dependent on availability. Porterage is not provided.
Parking is not available.
Venues are within 1km on foot.
Old Bank Hotel (5*)
A former 19th-century bank, this boutique hotel (43 rooms) has a library and an Italianate courtyard garden among its public spaces. Rooms have modern décor, many with views of spires and rooftops; those at the front overlook the High Street, though windows are noise-proofed.
The Quod Restaurant & Bar is open every day 7.00am to 11.00pm and an à la carte breakfast is served here.
Tea and coffee, air conditioning and a safe are provided in all rooms, and all en-suites have underfloor heating and a hairdryer.
Parking in the hotel car park is free, but reserving in advance is recommended.
Venues are within 600 metres on foot.
The Store (5*)
Situated in the heart of the city, The Store is a haven of calm. The sleek, modern décor and soft lighting gives the public areas a relaxed but luxury feel.
Bedrooms are bright, with high ceilings. All bathrooms have a walk-in shower, and some also have a bathtub. Standard hotel amenities are available in all rooms, while the higher categories are generally differentiated by room size, bed size, and the view. There is generally plenty of natural light and a number of rooms have views onto the surrounding, historic buildings. All rooms have air conditioning.
The Treadwell restaurant serves breakfast (continental buffet with à la carte options), lunch and dinner every day except Sunday evenings.
The hotel does not have a car park.
Venues are within 1km on foot.
Randolph (5*)
The most famous hotel in Oxford, the venerable Randolph (151 rooms) is housed in a Gothic Revival building in Beaumont Street. The bedrooms are well decorated in a fairly traditional way and are very comfortable. Almost all have a shower – bathtubs are very limited. Bathrobe and slippers, espresso machine, iron and ironing board and a hairdryer are among the amenities provided in all rooms.
Public rooms include a ‘Morse’ bar, a bright and airy lounge and a fine restaurant. Service is more comparable to that of a 4-star hotel. Rooms with a street view may hear some traffic noise.
The hotel restaurant, The Alice, serves breakfast (full buffet), lunch and dinner every day.
Parking at the hotel is very limited and must be booked in advance. It costs c. £48 per vehicle per night.
Venues are within 1.3km on foot.
Old Parsonage (5*)
A very attractive hotel (35 rooms), at its core is a lovely 17th-century rectory. The public areas in this part are delightful – colourful, comfortable and idiosyncratic. A remarkable collection of 20th-century paintings covers the walls. The restaurant is good. The bedrooms in the new block to the rear are slightly more functional, though they are equipped with all the usual mod cons.
Transport by private coach will be arranged for some of the concerts, but many journeys will be on foot and could be up to 30 minutes. Taxis are easily obtained.
The Parsonage Grill serves breakfast (à la carte and a continental selection), lunch and dinner every day.
Parking is free but very limited, so cannot be guaranteed unless reserved in advance.
Venues are within 1.5km on foot. Taxis are easily obtained.
Eastgate Hotel (4*)
Built on the site of a former coaching inn, the Eastgate is a Mercure hotel (81 rooms). Bedrooms have little character but are very comfortable with all mod cons. Public rooms are agreeable. Bathtubs or showers are available in both room categories, on request. Its location in narrow Merton Street makes it one of the quietest of our selection of hotels though some rooms overlook the High Street.
A buffet breakfast is served daily. The restaurant is currently closed, but we anticipate that it will reopen by the time of the festival. If not, you may need to eat elsewhere for independent meals.
Parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be guaranteed. It costs c. £30 per night.
Venues are within 1km on foot.
There is a lot of walking involved in this festival, and some of the concerts and hotel rooms can only be reached via flights of stairs. You will need to be able to walk unaided for up to 1km (c. 0.6 miles), multiple times in one day. Festival staff will not have the resources to assist individuals. Traffic restrictions and congestion render coach transport impractical.
If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.
Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package.
Secular. All performances are concerts rather than religious services.
Duration. Most are around one hour, some a little more, some a little less. None of the concerts has an interval.
Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want. Most seating is in stalls or pews.
Not obligatory. You don’t have to attend them all! 16 concerts is a lot to absorb in five days.
Audience size. There will be up to c. 220 participants on the festival. Six of our nine venues cannot hold this number, so at these, the performance will be repeated.
Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustic perfection. The venues may have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort not found in modern concert halls.
Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs: there are many circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.
Driving to Oxford: Please take note of restrictions on driving within Oxford. The city’s current £5 congestion charge is set to be replaced by traffic filters, through which cars may only travel with a permit. The County Council website states that ‘with Botley Road open, everywhere in Oxford will be accessible by car without having to drive through a traffic filter.’ However, this situation is in flux, so we advise that you check your travel plans closer to the time.
Parking is available at some hotels, but is often limited. City centre car parks tend to be expensive and few allow long stay parking. Long stay parking is allowed at some, but not all, Park and Ride car parks.
The heart of this festival is the performance of the complete Divine Office in the course of a single day, at the times each Hour would traditionally have been sung.
The eight Hours – Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline – each centre on the chanting of psalms with their antiphons, the singing of hymns and canticles, and scriptural readings with sung responsories. The tradition has changed little in nearly 1,500 years, and some elements may go back further still: some scholars believe the roots of plainchant (‘Gregorian’ chant) lie in earlier Jewish liturgical practice.
This ‘performance’ of the Divine Office (these are concerts, not services) comes as close as possible to what might have been heard in late-medieval or Renaissance Britain and continental Europe, but there are some departures from strict liturgical practice.
Rather than reproducing exactly what would have been sung on the day itself, each office represents a different Christian feast or period of the church year (Advent, Easter and so on), so that as you travel through the day you also travel musically through the year, with music and readings appropriate to each. Not only does this add another dimension to the progression through the offices, but it also provides a more varied soundworld, drawing on some of the most remarkable music written for each season.
Were you to attend all eight Hours, you would join a very small number of people alive today to have done so – the opportunity is now extremely rare. Even if you attend only those at more agreeable hours, you will hear one of the most complete musical realisations of the Divine Office to be found anywhere today.
As the capacity of the chapels is limited, most of the eight offices are performed simultaneously in two of them: The Tallis Scholars and Collegium Gregorianum in one, The Marian Consort in the other. Participants are assigned to one of two streams, moving between venues through the day so that each stream hears every choir, each in a different sequence of Oxford’s chapels.
Apart from sleep deprivation, choirs wishing to perform the complete Divine Office face two challenges: vocal stamina, and the quantity of plainchant, the singing of which is a specialist skill. The Marian Consort take on both the polyphony and the chant for all of their Hours; The Tallis Scholars and Collegium Gregorianum divide theirs, performing the polyphony and the chant respectively.
Dates & prices
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2027
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
27th September - 1st October 2027
Speaker:
Mr Jeremy Summerly
Price:
from £2,780
(Based on two sharing)Testimonials
“I doubt I will ever again have such an educational and aesthetic experience. To say 'I was there'; at the Divine Office is something I shall treasure.
”
“It was an honour to be part of an audience in such auspicious surroundings. We were essentially provided with a divine and memorable week and a sense of individual achievement. Thank you so much.
”
“A truly wonderful and unforgettable experience. A great privilege to have been a part of it.
”
“The combination of an interesting and inspired musicians all brought together in such beautiful settings makes for a very special experience The festival really provided so many special moments that I will carry with me for years to come.
”
Combine with
We are happy to advise on combining this itinerary with another tour or event. Please contact us for information about linking accommodation and transport.
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