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Somerville Choir
Oxford
Somerville College Choir is a highly regarded and talented mixed voice choir from within the University of Oxford. Formed in 2001, the choir has made several recordings, and has recently given concerts in Italy, Germany, and the United States of America (the latter in both 2014 and 2016). The College Choir has, in a short period of time, established itself to be one of the very best choirs in one of the foremost choral cities on the planet.
This academic year is a busy and exciting one for the choir. In October members of the choir organised a 24-hour music marathon in our college chapel to kickstart our fundraising campaign for the India tour. Our live-streamed footage of the event (all 24 hours' worth!) can be found on our Facebook page. In November we will be joining other Oxford choirs in a performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the Sheldonian Theatre. We will also be putting on concerts of our own, including a recital centered around the theme of water, as well as a pre-tour concert in December performing a host of works for Christmas at the Church of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford. Plans for after Christmas include a concert of jazz influenced spirituals and hymns together with the Basin Street Brawlers.
We will be visiting India in December 2018, to perform concerts and run workshops in Mumbai and Goa. The choir will run several workshops during our visit, and we are looking forward to taking part in activities with the Mumbai based charity Songbound. Established in 2012, Songbound is an outreach initiative that brings the transformative power of music to some of India’s poorest and most marginalised children. After the tour, to raise money for the children of Songbound, the choir will be embarking upon a grade-1-athon challenge, which will involve each member learning a new musical instrument from scratch and then taking a Grade 1 exam.
We will also be running educational workshops with students of The Karta Initiative, a social mobility mission which aims to widen access to world-class higher education and opportunity for brilliant low income students from developing and emerging countries. This will involve members of the choir talking to the students about their own subjects, different pathways and university life in general.
In addition to these workshops, we are thrilled to have an invitation to perform in the National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), and we will give several other performances during our visit including at the Mehboob Film Studios as part of the Times Literary Festival, and the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Goa.
We would be extremely grateful for any donation, big or small, which will help us get to India. Our aim in this campaign is to make the tour more affordable to members of the choir regardless of background or financial circumstances. We already have raised a substantial amount towards the tour, including from choir contributions, support from Somerville College, generous external donations and our modest fundraising activities. By raising this amount of £10,000, we are able to bridge the final funding gap to make this tour financially possible for all members.
However, money isn’t everything. If you feel you would like to help in other ways, you could help us promote our crowdfunding page to friends, family, and online, so that we reach as many people as possible. Maybe you could share our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or even just tell someone about us. Every little helps!
If you make a donation, we will show our thanks by sending you a personal sign of our appreciation. Check out our tiered reward system on the right hand side.
Please note that the rewards are accumulative. For example, donating £75 would enable you to receive the reward of photos in addition to the two rewards listed above.
If you would like to know more about Somerville Choir, check out the links below for more information and regular updates:
Director of Chapel Music (Will Dawes)
If you would like to make a gift, please click the 'Sponsor' button where we can accept both credit and debit card donations.
Thank you for taking the time to visit our page. We greatly appreciate any support you are able to provide!
Select this reward if you just want to donate to the project without receiving a reward.
67 claimed
A daily email update from the choir in India
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
Thank you video message from a member of the choir
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
A selection of photos from the tour
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
A video showing 'behind the scenes' footage of the tour
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
A bespoke version of "Happy Birthday" sung by the choir
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
Conducting lesson from our Director of Chapel Music, Will Dawes
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
Full choir workshop led by our Director of Chapel Music, Will Dawes
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
Two season tickets giving you entry into every choir concert in the calendar year of 2019
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019
An upcoming choir concert will be in your name and will include a piece of your choice
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Estimated delivery: 1 January 2019