Exeter College Choir completes overseas tour with Emmanuel College Choir

This summer, Exeter College Choir embarked on its most ambitious foreign tour since the pandemic, spending ten days in Sweden and Germany. A particular highlight of the tour was its collaborative quality, drawing together a collection of musicians reaching beyond the choir’s usual cohort to form a thirty-person-strong ensemble. Most notably, this larger choir welcomed members of Exeter’s sister college, Emmanuel, Cambridge.

The first leg of the tour began in Sweden, with the choir arriving on Midsummer’s eve. Whilst the choir was based in Stockholm, performing concerts in the Katarina Kyrka and the German Lutheran church, it also gave both a service and concert in Uppsala Cathedral. The programmes of music were dedicated to the tradition of Anglican choral evensong, including works by Cecilia McDowall, Benjamin Britten, and Exeter alumnus Hubert Parry. In between concerts, the choir also enjoyed exploring Stockholm as tourists. The Vasa and ABBA museums were especially memorable trips – likewise visiting islands on the Stockholm archipelago.

After the stay in Sweden, the choir set off for Germany, staying in the small village of Obercunnersdorf, where the choir received a warm welcome from various host families. This stretch of the tour also involved several unusual and interesting excursions, including trips to a local piano factory and to the Herrnhut Star Company, which manufactured the star which hangs in Exeter College Chapel every Christmas. Moreover, as well as singing with the village choir and performing a concert in Görlitz (a town on the border between Germany and Poland), the choir was also called on to sing at the Oberlausitz beer festival! The final day of the tour saw a service in the village church, of which Exeter’s chaplain, Rev’d Andrew Allen, acts as priest (Pfarrer in Ehrenamt) during the vacation periods, before an evening barbecue with all the host families.

Overall, the tour was a fantastic experience of musical collaboration, in particular strengthening ties between Exeter and Emmanuel colleges. Recordings of the choir performing in Sweden are available on the choir’s YouTube channel: Exeter College Choir, Oxford (@ExeterCollegeChoirOxford).

Students interested in joining Exeter College Choir can find out more on the Choir’s website.

The choir at Katarina Kyrka in Stockholm