Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas & Britten Sinfonia
Biographie Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas & Britten Sinfonia
Áine Smith
began singing with the Nidus Children’s Choir, based in Cwmbran. With this group, she performed a number of times at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, and in 2015, competed in the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia, winning a silver medal. As a teenager, Áine held choral scholarships with the Crickhowell Choral Society and at Hereford Sixth Form College.
Áine read Music at Merton College Oxford, graduating in 2021 with a first-class degree. In the summer, she completed a postgraduate MSt in Musicology, receiving a Distinction, where her research broadly concerned the musical body. Throughout her time at Oxford, Áine held a choral scholarship with the Merton College Choir, participating in a busy and international liturgical and concert programme. She also sang with the Magdalen College Consort of Voices, and regularly performed with student-led ensembles, such as the Delius Singers and the Selene S. As a soloist, Áine had her operatic debut with New Chamber Opera as an undergraduate, singing Haydn’s La Vera Costanza in New College, Oxford in 2020. Áine has performed as a soloist on several occasions with violinist Rachel Podger in the Brecon Baroque Festival. While in Oxford, Áine has studied with Carys Lane, and has regular vocal coaching from Jeanette Massochi when at home in Wales. For the next academic year, Áine is an Associate Artist with the Tenebrae Choir, directed by Nigel Short, and is a recipient of the Genesis Sixteen scheme.
Benjamin Nicholas
is a former pupil of David Sanger for organ and Denise Ham for conducting. He held the organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral before moving to Tewkesbury Abbey where he directed the Schola Cantorum. He has directed the Choir at Merton College since 2008, and in 2012 became the first full-time Organist and Director of Music at Merton.
During Benjamin’s time at Merton, the College has established the annual Passiontide at Merton festival, and in 2013 the new Dobson Organ was installed, a project with which he was closely involved. With Merton College Choir, Benjamin has toured in France, Sweden and the USA, given concerts in the Cadogan Hall and The Temple Church, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television.
As a conductor, recent performances have included Holst’s Savitri in the Cheltenham Music Festival, Mozart’s Requiem in St Germain, Paris and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Oxford Philomusica. Benjamin’s recordings are mainly on the Delphian label, and include discs of Weelkes, Mozart (Coronation Mass and Solemn Vespers), Stainer, Stanford, and Rutter. His debut disc with Merton College Choir was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.
Benjamin Nicholas has collaborated with numerous composers, and is largely responsible for the Merton Choirbook, commissioned to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the College in 2014. Significant projects have included the first performances of Gabriel Jackson’s Passion in Oxford and New York, and the premieres of new choral works by Birtwistle, Dove, MacMillan, Saxton and Weir.
The Choir of Merton College
consists of 30 undergraduate and graduate students at Oxford University reading for degrees in a variety of subjects. The choir's primary duty is singing at regular services in the famous 13th-century Chapel.
Since the establishment of Merton’s Choral Foundation in 2008, the choir has gained an international reputation for offering the best of choral music through tours, recordings and broadcasts. In 2020, the choir won the award for best choral album at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for its recording of Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The choir’s discography on the Delphian Label has seen numerous five star reviews and many recordings have been named ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone magazine.
The choir has appeared at The Three Choirs Festival and the Cheltenham Music Festival, and recent London appearances include the concert series at St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and The Temple Church. The choir is regularly heard in concert with orchestra, and recent collaborations have seen the choir perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Elgar’s The Apostles), Instruments of Time and Truth (Bach’s St Matthew Passion) and Oxford Baroque (Bach’s Mass in B minor). The choir’s annual festival, Passiontide at Merton, has an established place in Oxford’s musical calendar, and has led to exciting collaborations with such groups as The Cardinall’s Musick and The Marian Consort.
Merton College Choir regularly tours overseas, and has recently visited the USA, Hong Kong and Singapore, France, Italy and Sweden. In 2017, the choir sang the first Anglican Service in St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
The choir’s commitment to contemporary music has seen numerous composers write for the choir. In recent years the choir has premiered works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Ešenvalds, Kendall, MacMillan, McDowall, Rutter, Tabakova and Weir. In July 2021, the choir gave the world premiere of a new work by Daniel Kidane.
