It’s not often that a choir can gather together such a starry line-up as Dame Emma Kirkby, Christine Rice, Jane Glover and Ian Bostridge for one concert. But Schola Cantorum has done exactly that for its 50th anniversary gala concert, which is being held at the Sheldonian Theatre at the weekend.

“There’ll be all sorts of eminent people, not just from musical fields,” conductor Jamie Burton tells me. “It’s fascinating for me to watch people leave the choir and then see how their careers are going and see that actually lots of these people will go on to become very significant. The Bishop of Salisbury is coming, and Dame Liz Forgan, who is running the Arts Council, is a former member of the choir.

“What’s so great is that even though there are these superstars coming, we’re all levelled by making music together. Music is a great humbling and unifying force, so it’ll be great fun to do the concert with such distinguished people.”

We had met just after a choir rehearsal at Merton College – an appropriate venue, because it was here that the choir’s founder, Hungarian refugee László Heltay, was first an undergraduate and later Director of Music. He founded the Collegium Musicum Oxoniense in 1960, with the name being changed to Schola Cantorum of Oxford just four years later. It is now the university’s longest-running chamber choir, well known for its high musical standards, its adventurous and imaginative programming, and its commitment to nurturing young talent.

Jamie follows a distinguished line of conductors that includes Andrew Parrott, Nicholas Cleobury and Jeremy Summerly. “I was thrilled to get an invitation to attend the interview, and remember really enjoying it,” he recalls. “There was obviously a bit of chemistry between us, artistically, and I was very excited when I was offered the job. That was eight years ago. I can’t believe it’s eight years – it’s flown by.”

That’s not surprising, because the last few years have been some of the busiest and most exciting in Schola’s history. The highlight, arguably, was the 45th birthday concert in 2005, but there have also been overseas tours to Argentina, Mexico, Israel and China, the recording of music by American composer Randall Thompson and Finnish composer Einojihani Rautavaara, and the commissioning of new work, most memorably a jazz setting of the Evensong service by Roderick Williams. Now, though, they are looking forward to marking their 50th anniversary with what promises to be a very special evening.

“The 45th anniversary concert was a great success – there was a wonderful buzz about it, and it was the first time I really became aware of the wonderful continuity in terms of the members and the fondness which former members of the choir have for it. Ever since then we’ve known that we would do a concert around this time, and I thought it would be very lovely to be involved with that.”

Unsurprisingly, the programme has been given a deliberately celebratory feel. It opens with The King Shall Rejoice and Handel’s Dixit Dominus, while the second half features Bach’s Magnificat and closes with the opening movement of his Cantata, which Jamie describes as “outrageously uplifting and positive”.

In between all that is the premiere of a newly-commissioned work, Bring Us O Lord, by Scottish composer James MacMillan. Poignantly, this was written in memory of a former choir member who died in 2008, and has been funded by her parents.

“It’ll be a really lovely moment to be able to acknowledge her life and commemorate it with this piece of music for all of us who knew her, and at the same time celebrate the anniversary,” says Jamie. “The choir has done a lot of contemporary music over the years, and I felt that it would be wonderful for us to commission a new work for our 50th year.

“I’ve known MacMillan’s music for a long time, and he has a wonderful gift for writing for the voice. There’s an innate spirituality to his work for choirs, so I’m tickled pink that we’ve got the chance to work with him.”

For Jamie, the choir’s 50th anniversary is not just a celebration, but an opportunity to look to the future as well. “I feel there’s lots of potential to expand what the choir does,” he says. “I’m very keen for us to think about the history of Schola, and acknowledge this in a very lovely way, but also this is a massive opportunity to get everyone together and say, we’ve done 50, how are we going to get to 100?

“The long-term vision is to make sure there’s still a Schola Cantorum 50 years from now. And just to have played a small part in that is a wonderful honour, and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Schola Cantorum’s gala concert is at the Sheldonian Theatre on May 1. Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com