Christiani, Plaudite | Matthew Martin

The Choir of Merton College
Benjamin Nicholas Conductor

François Cloete Organ Scholar


The Choir of Merton College consists of 30 undergraduate and graduate students at Oxford University, UK reading for degrees in a variety of subjects. The choir's primary duty is singing at regular services of Evensong and Choral Eucharist in the famous 13th-century Chapel.

Since the establishment of Merton’s Choral Foundation in 2008, the choir has gained an international reputation for offering the best of choral music through tours, recordings and broadcasts. In 2020, the choir won the award for best choral album at the BBC Music Magazine Awards for its recording of Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The choir’s discography on the Delphian Label has seen numerous five star reviews and many recordings have been named ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone magazine.

The Dobson Organ
The Dobson Organ in Merton College Chapel is one of the finest mechanical action organs in the UK.

Built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Iowa, USA, and installed in 2013, in readiness for the College’s 750th celebrations in 2014, the organ consists of 44 ranks over three manuals. The specification encourages the performance of a wide repertoire, and the organ sounds equally thrilling in music from the baroque era as it does in the great romantic masterworks.