Choir: People

Benjamin Nicholas was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before holding organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul's Cathedral. After a period as Director of Music of St Luke’s Church, Chelsea, he was Director of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum for twelve years.

Benjamin is currently Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford and Music Director of The Oxford Bach Choir. As a conductor, he has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Florilegium, The BBC Singers and The Holst Singers in works such as Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony and Holst’s Savitri.

Benjamin Nicholas has been involved in the commissioning of a great many works, and conducted the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s Bach Re-imagined in Southwark Cathedral with the City of London Sinfonia, Howard Goodall’s Veni Sancte Spiritus in Westminster Abbey and numerous choral works by Kerry Andrew, Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Jackson, MacMillan, Martin, Muhly, Tabakova, Weir, and Wilby in Tewkesbury and Oxford.

As an organist, Benjamin has appeared in concert with the Tallis Scholars, and has most recently given recitals in Bath Abbey and Munich Dom. This year he will give recitals in King’s College, Cambridge, Belgium and Rome.

Email: Benjamin Nicholas

François Cloete is Senior Organ Scholar at Merton College, Oxford, in his final year reading Music. François accompanies the College Choir and Girls’ Choir for their schedule of five services a week, concerts, tours, recordings, and broadcasts. He gives organ recitals at various Cathedrals and Colleges across the country (recently Westminster Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral, and the Three Choirs Festival), in addition to his work as accompanist of the Oxford Bach Choir and Student Opera Society.

François grew up on the island of Guernsey before receiving a bursary to attend Wells Cathedral School as a specialist musician. At the age of 19 François became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, receiving three prizes for highest marks in every component of the examinations. François has held organ scholarships at Wells Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral, and next year will take up the scholarship at Westminster Abbey.

François combines church music with a research profile at the intersection of music theory and political philosophy. The recipient of an academic exhibition and research grants, François recently presented work on Berg’s Wozzeck at a Society for Music Analysis conference. He was awarded the outstanding paper prize and his work awaits publication on their website. In September François will pursue the MMus (Musicology) at King’s College, London, researching the music of Egon Wellesz.

Carys Lane, Giles Underwood, and William Purefoy are the College's Vocal Coaches. They work with the Choral Scholars on a regular basis whilst continuing to give concerts both in the UK and abroad.

Peter Phillips, founder and director of The Tallis Scholars, is Patron of the College Choir. It was Peter’s idea that the College should consider establishing a Choral Foundation. Along with Benjamin Nicholas, he was a Reed Rubin Director of Music from 2008, a post he held until 2016. His involvement included recordings, tours and broadcasts, as well as conducting the choir on a number of occasions each term. The College is enormously grateful for Peter’s enthusiasm for the Choral Foundation and is delighted that he has accepted the honorary position of Patron. Peter is also a Bodley Fellow of the College.