The name is appopriate: set up in 2008, the Oxford Sixth choir brings together sixth formers from across the city.

“When I arrived here, I realised there were lots of boys- or girls-only choirs,” Oxford Sixth founder and director Jon Cullen told me. “There were very few mixed school choirs in Oxford. So I thought I’d try to change that. It was an experiment for the first concert, but it went very well, so we thought we’d make it a permanent fixture.”

The choir aims high — it has already given concerts with professional orchestras such as the Hanover Band and the Britten Sinfonia.

Does that mean that Jon hopes to take recruits to a higher level of singing than perhaps they thought they could achieve when they join the choir?

“Absolutely. The thing I’m interested in is passion. You’ve got to love the music you’re singing. You need to create something magical: it’s not just standing and singing a piece of music. Then it will matter to the audience, as well as to the performers. At auditions, I get people to come and take part in a rehearsal. Potential recruits can then decide whether it’s right for them: if it is, then I’ll do voice tests, and check that they are capable of reaching the standard involved.”

On Friday, June 24, the choir peforms John Rutter’s Birthday Madrigals in the University Church — tickets: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ ticketsoxford “It’s quite unlike most other Rutter pieces,” Jon said. “The madrigals are jazz influenced. You’ve got this combination of madrigal-style writing with a double bass and a jazz pianist, who improvises. It should show the elasticity of the choir; the first piece is It was a Lover and his Lass, with its sexual overtones. Then you’ve got Draw on, Sweet Night, which is much calmer, and then there are some cheeky songs towards the end.”