Nicola Lisle asks conductor Timothy Byram-Wigfield about this year’s Carols for All by Oxford Bach Choir Anybody who has been to Oxford Bach Choir’s Carols for All in previous years will know what a fun, light-hearted event this is – the perfect precursor to Christmas Day itself. Much of the fun comes from the choir’s charismatic Associate Conductor, Timothy Byram-Wigfield, who has a knack for getting the audience involved in the action.

Timothy inherited the Carols for All event when he joined the choir in 2008, but it was his idea to introduce the now-legendary The Twelve Days of Christmas with audience participation.

“Yes, I have to hold my hands up to that one!” he laughs. “We divide the audience up, so you’ve go the 12 different groups of singers and they take it in turns to sing. It’s all very silly, but people enjoy it.”

There are other opportunities to join in with traditional carols, as well as listen to the choir. “It’s a mix of traditional and more contemporary carols,” explains Timothy. “We generally include some spirituals as well, like Go Tell it on the Mountain.

“This year we’re doing Joy to the World to begin with, then some modern carols. “We’re doing a lot of arrangements by David Wilcocks and John Rutter, an Appalachian carol, I Wonder as I Wander, which is very lovely, and then the carols for all to sing, including O Come All Ye Faithful and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

As always, the choir will be joined by youngsters from the Oxfordshire County Music Service, which helps to make the concert a family occasion. “I think it was about three or four years ago it was suggested that we include the youngsters as part of the celebration. Of course it means we get a lot of families and proud parents coming along and joining in the celebrations, so that’s good.”

Unsurprisingly, Timothy was a musical youngsters himself — something that is inevitable, probably, when your parents met at Glyndebourne. “My father was on the production staff and my mother was a repetiteur,” Timothy says. “So it was rather romantic!

“My mother is a marvellous pianist and teacher and singer, and there was a lot of music in the house all the time. I was a chorister at King’s in Cambridge, then organ scholar at Christ Church in the early 80s, and then my first job after university was as sub-organist at Winchester Cathedral. “Then I went up to Edinburgh, where I worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus and the Edinburgh Choral Union. Just before joining the Oxford Bach Choir I was working with the Northampton Bach Choir.”

As associate conductor, Timothy does two concerts a year with the Oxford Bach Choir. In between, he is director of music at All Saints Church, Margaret Street, in London, teaches piano and organ at Eton College and has a busy schedule as an organ recitalist.

There’s little doubt, though, that the OBC’s Carols for All is a highlight of the year for all concerned. “It’s a gentle celebration of Christmas, with the message and readings and so on. “Members of the choir always look forward to it, especially after a busy term, so it’s a nice way of letting their hair down!”

Carols For All
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Saturday, 7.30pm
Tickets: £10-20
Call 01865 305305 or ticketsoxford.com