Spring Martlet 2017

Music at Univ
The start of the new academic year has
played host to an eclectic mix of musical
events. On 26 October UCMS held a
Freshers’ concert in the Master’s Lodgings
that encouraged the first years to perform
and showcase their talent. Further Master’s
Lodgings concerts are planned for the
coming year, and the committee hopes that
the Christmas songs concert, given by the
choral scholars on 17 November, left people
feeling suitably festive for ‘Oxmas.’
28 October saw a more informal event;
Open Mic Night, held in the College bar.
Plenty of varied performances – including
a cameo appearance from Will Yeldham, an
Old Member who graduated last year – led
to an evening enjoyed by all. The upcoming
renovations to the bar will provide an even
better space for events such as these to
take place.
As well as planned renovations to the bar,
the expansion of the College Library to 10
Merton Street is now complete, including a
large seminar room with a grand piano. UCMS
are looking forward to hosting a musical
inauguration of the new concert space, which
will prove invaluable as a concert venue for all
college musical events in the future.
The Chapel Choir’s has been building on the
strengths it gained from a summer tour to
Prague and the recording of Advent music at
the end of the last academic year. The Martlet
Ensemble and the choir gave a candlelit Bach
Advent and Christmas Cantata concert
together on 22 November in the College
Chapel. The annual Christmas Advent carol
services took place on 3 December, with
mulled wine and mince pies in Hall.
We are very excited to announce the
release of the Chapel Choir’s new CD.
Dayspring Bright is a collection of music
specific to the Advent season, featuring
carols which form the musical backbone of
the yearly Advent Carol services at Univ.
The disc includes old favourites like In the
bleak midwinter, O come, O come Emmanuel
and Benjamin Britten’s A Hymn to the
Virgin, as well as some more modern carols
by composers such as Sally Beamish and
Alexander Campkin. We are also delighted
to have been able to record a carol by Old
Member, Jonathan Lane (1977) – a setting
of the mediaeval text, There is no rose of
such virtue. To order your copies, please visit:
www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/univ-cd
We hope that the CD will also give those
Old Members who find it difficult to attend
events held in Oxford a chance to once
again engage with music at Univ.
Dayspring Bright marks the beginning of a
recording project highlighting the Chapel
Choir’s singing of seasonal music. The next
disc will contain music for Lent and is
planned to be both recorded and released in
2017. If you would like to contribute to the
costs of making our next CD please contact
the Development Office.
Charlotte Hayton (2015, History)
UCMS Publicity Officer, 2016-2017
Oscar Hansen (2015, Music), President of
UCMS, 2016-17
44 THE MARTLET | SPRING 2017