{"id":2004,"date":"2026-10-27T17:06:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T16:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newchambersingers.com\/?page_id=2004"},"modified":"2026-10-28T13:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:25:24","slug":"uk-tour-2-7-september-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/newchambersingers.com\/it\/past-concerts\/uk-tour-2-7-september-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour nel Regno Unito: 2-7 settembre 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Una fantastica collaborazione con il coro Ex Collegio, con base a Oxford.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Questa pagina racconta, \u00abcos\u00ec come si sono svolti i fatti\u00bb, la storia del nostro tour nel Regno Unito, che ha riscosso un grande successo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercoled\u00ec 2 settembre<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The choir travelled to St Margaret\u2019s Church, North Oxford to arrive on Wednesday evening. In the church to greet us were the members of the Ex Collegio choir, ready with tea, biscuits, home-made cakes and friendship.

Most, including our maestro, Stefano, fortuitously met up in the vast spaces of Fiumicino airport as they were travelling on the same British Airways flight. Some had chosen other flight options, some were already in England and Thomas drove from his home in Switzerland. Our onward travel plans were complicated by the vastness of Heathrow, with its 5 terminals, meaning poor Teresa was waiting at the meeting point at Terminal 2 (she\u2019d flown with ITA airways) while Chris and Stefano were waiting for her at the meeting point in Terminal 5 (having flown with BA)! But it all got sorted and everyone arrived on time \u2026 except Roberto, who had taken an early flight and gone to London to visit the British Museum, but his onward trip to Oxford was bedevilled by issues with the London Underground, meaning he arrived just when our first rehearsal was finishing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A word is due about Ex Collegio. They were formed in 1981, when a group of graduate students at St. Catharine\u2019s College, Cambridge, who had been singing together in the college chapel choir, decided to continue singing together after graduating. They found other like-minded young people and started a program of singing the services in a cathedral somewhere in Britain in the third week of August each year, when the cathedral choir was on summer holidays. Led by Tim Venvell for their entire existence, they have sung in nearly all the great cathedrals in England \u2013 many of them several times. In time they married, many of their partners also joining the choir, then had children, who, as they grew up, also sang with the choir. As a choir they are rather unique in that they are not linked to one place, although there is a cluster in the Oxford \/ High Wycombe area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years they decided to spread their wings geographically, going first to Salzburg and then to Rome, where they joined with the NCS to sing the Dvorak Mass in D, the Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, and some other Russian pieces. This tour is the reciprocal visit of the NCS to the UK to help Ex Coll celebrate their 45th<\/sup> anniversary and to give the NCS its first opportunity to tour outside Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rehearsing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back at St. Margaret\u2019s Church we started rehearsing the pieces we would sing on the 4th<\/sup>, 5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> of September in London, High Wycombe and Oxford, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the end of the rehearsal, the NCS members were taken off to the homes of the hosts, because most of the choir were being generously hosted by Ex Coll members in their spare bedrooms, etc. We cannot thank the Ex Coll members enough for their generosity, which made the tour do-able at an acceptable cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday 3rd September<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The day began with an excellent tour of Oxford conducted by Robert Gullifer, the retired headmaster of New College School, a preparatory school located in the heart of Oxford, and so an expert on the city! Robert was the chief UK organiser of the UK tour and was instrumental in getting us the prestigious singing venues \u2013 we owe him a great deal!  The tour was very useful for those who were not aware of how the Oxbridge College system worked and illuminated some aspects of the rivalry between the colleges for bragging rights (oldest, biggest, most famous, etc.)! In the afternoon and evening, we continued rehearsing, with a short interruption only to take a \u201cpot-luck\u201d dinner, where everyone contributed something and we had far too much to eat and drink!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday 4th September<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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From our various locations we headed up to London. Most managed a little tourism in London before meeting at Westminster Abbey for a free tour of the cathedral, made possible because the Receiver-General is a friend of Ex Coll (in fact, had the timings been different we might have been able to sing Evensong at Westminster Abbey, which would have been an incredible privilege). The tour was conducted by the abbey\u2019s professional tour guides and included taking us to the Jerusalem Chamber<\/a>, which is not normally open to tourists, and is where Henry IV died, as recounted by Shakespeare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then to St George\u2019s, Hanover Square, Londra<\/a>, between Soho and Mayfair. Built between 1721 and 1725, in the early Georgian classical and English Baroque architectural styles it has a towering portico stretching across the pavement. It is known as Handel\u2019s Church, because he worshipped there when he was living just around the corner in Brook Street until his death in 1759. This was the church of choice for society weddings from the Georgian through to the Edwardian period, and many famous weddings took place here, including those of various Georgian members of the royal family, Percy Bysse Shelley, George Eliot, Lord Alfred Douglas, Benjamin Disraeli and Teddy Roosevelt (later to become President of the USA). Its popularity for this purpose slowly declined through the 20th<\/sup> century, possibly because those in high society no longer lived in the parish (for more details see the church website).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Evensong service at St George\u2019s was well-attended (mostly by the choir\u2019s friends and relations!) and presided over by a priest from St Peter\u2019s Church, London Docks, a friend of one of the Ex Coll singers, thus \u201ckeeping it in the family\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The music of the service:<\/p>\n\n\n\n