Music

Useful links

Places available

Four or five.

Why New College?

What is special about being a Music undergraduate at New College?

We admit 4 to 5 students a year, creating a lively cohort of musicians in the College; we have two Music Tutors and a Lecturer in Composition, allowing us to cover a wide range of tutorial needs from within the College; we occupy a large and handsome piece of real estate in the middle of Oxford, with a magnificent chapel also serving as a concert venue; New College Choir provides an unbeatable educational and artistic experience for singers; New Chamber Opera extends this into the sphere of music drama; the student chamber groups and College orchestra cater for instrumentalists; the College library has one of the most extensive collection of Music-related literature in Oxford apart from the Bodleian and Music Faculty libraries; the Bodleian is literally across the road; and College's own The Clore Music Studios, opened in 2019, are just around the corner, see Music facilities. Further details can be found in the New Heritage Pages.

We also offer Choral and Organ Scholarships and Instrumental Awards.

And New College hosts both the University's statutory Visiting Chair in Opera Studies and the Humanitas Chair of Voice and Classical Music.

Other than this, New College is just like any other college.

What we look for

The Music tutors at New College will be pleased to answer enquiries and meet with prospective candidates. They are Professor Michael Burden and Professor Robert Quinney.

Preparatory work & listening

The reading below is not set work; if you would like to dip into it before coming, you will find both some new ideas and something about your tutors. Each of us has therefore nominated something of our own and something we think might be useful or entertaining, and maybe both!

Michael Burden

An aria from a production of Artaserse by Leondardo Vinci

Yet another piece on the King's Theatre, London's only opera house.

Luke Lewis

Luke conducts Supergrass's Gaz Coombes

Adam Neely's wonderful intro to jazz harmony. You might want to check out some of Rick Beato's 'What Makes This Song Great?' videos on YouTube too.

Robert Quinney

A soothing (in the first part at least) bit of Palestrina

John Butt, Bach's Dialogue with Modernity, introduction.