Nicola Lisle discovers how Christ Church Cathedral’s new trust hopes to offer young people the chance to hit those high notes

When you have a choral foundation that dates back to the 16th century and is renowned worldwide for its excellence, you want to ensure its long-term survival.

Christ Church Cathedral Choir — which, uniquely, serves as both college choir and diocese choir — was founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1546, with John Taverner as its first director of music.

Now the college has launched the Christ Church Cathedral Music Trust, which aims to preserve choral tradition at Christ Church in perpetuity, to increase scholarship funding so that the choir can attract the very best young voices, regardless of background, and to expand the choir’s outreach work.

“The whole point of what we’re doing is that we’ve got this amazing choir that’s been around for nearly 500 years, and we want to ensure that it remains amazing and is around for the next 500 years,” says Simon Offen, the vice-president of the Christ Church Association and the deputy development officer.

Opening up opportunities for talented youngsters is something the trustees are particularly passionate about, and they hope to increase scholarship funding from the current level of 60 per cent of the fees to 100 per cent. “For me, that’s at the core of the whole thing, really,” says choir conductor Stephen Darlington.

“It’s always been an aspiration of mine for this to be a “needs-blind”, so that it’s not an issue how much a parental income is.

“If it’s the right thing for a child, if it’s the right environment, then one wants to make it possible for a child to come here and benefit from it.

“What motivates me is to foster a child’s talent, and after five years here singing in this choir they’ll have had so many wonderful experiences and learnt so much about team work and standards and self-confidence, which go beyond music and are invaluable in life as a whole. If we’re able to raise enough money to make that possible, I think that will be fantastic.”

The choir currently costs just over half a million pounds a year to run, but this figure will need to increase substantially if the Trust is to achieve its aim of providing 100 per cent scholarships, along with overseas tours, recordings and an expanding project and outreach programme.

“We already have 40 per cent of the endowment of what is needed, but we need an extra £10m, which will produce the extra £300,000 that we need annually,” explains Simon.

“We don’t want to give the impression that we have no money and that the choir is in danger. What we are saying is that we want to ensure it never is in danger.

“We’ve got an endowment of about £330m at the moment. But we’re saying to people, if you, like us, think that a choral tradition is important, please help us to ensure that the choir stays in your cathedral for the next 500 years.

“We want people in the diocese — including The Oxford Times readers! — to know that there is a part they can play.”

Christ Church Cathedral Trust
To find out more about the Trust, and how to donate, visit www.chch.ox.ac.uk/cathedral/christ-church-cathedral-music-trust