Choir: People
Reed Rubin Organist & Director of Music
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
Assistant Organist
Dr Anna Steppler is Assistant Organist at Merton College, Oxford, having been most recently at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, where she was a postdoctoral Research Fellow in Music. She holds a PhD in Musicology from Cornell University, (Ithaca, NY), and a Masters on the Organ from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. As an undergraduate, she read Music as Organ Scholar of Merton College, Oxford, where she played for the choir’s first Radio Three Evensong broadcast (among other highlights). A dedicated organist and scholar, she has given recitals in the UK, Sweden, Germany and the USA, and held professional positions in both Sweden and the US, including as acting University Organist at Cornell, and Director of Music at St John’s Episcopal Church, Ithaca. Recent projects have included a recording for the BIOS Historical Organ Archive on the eighteenth-century Snetzler organ of Clare College, Cambridge, and celebratory recitals to mark 40 years of women at Peterhouse.
Email: Anna Steppler
Vocal Coaches
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.
Choir Manager
Lizzie Casey manages the Choral Foundation and is responsible for the management of both the Choir of Merton College and the Merton College Girl Choristers.
Email: Lizzie Casey
Patron of the College Choir
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.