The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford, 27 September–1 October 2021

Thank you for expressing an interest in this festival. You can book immediately. Please contact us directly or book online through our website.

Please note that due to the Covid-19 emergency, we will not be producing hard copies of our brochures this year.

Therefore this document is the only brochure for this festival that will be published.

The

Divine Office Choral Music in Oxford

CELEBRATING MUSIC AND PLACE

A unique event of exceptional musical intensity and 27 SEPTEMBER–1 OCTOBER 2021 spiritual potency.

MARTIN RANDALL FESTIVALS

Martin Randall Festivals bring together world-class musicians for a sequence of private concerts in Europe’s glorious historic buildings, many of which are not normally accessible. We take care of all logistics, from flights and hotels, to pre-concert talks.

VENICE: PAGEANTRY & PIETY 2–7 NOVEMBER 2020 POLYPHONY IN PORTUGAL 16–21 MAY 2021 MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE 15–22 JUNE 2021 MUSIC ALONG THE DANUBE 20–27 AUGUST 2021 THE DIVINE OFFICE 27 SEPTEMBER– 1 OCTOBER 2021

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CONTENTS

4.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FESTIVAL Discover the festival packages and location.

13.

THE DIVINE OFFICE DAY

18.

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES Choose college or hotel accommodation in Oxford.

The Monastic Office Hours.

6.

DISCOVER THE PLACE Oxford: a beautiful and suitable city.

14.

MEET THE CHOIRS & MUSICIANS

20.

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR

The option to add a Thames walking tour (7 days).

International musicians of the highest calibre.

8.

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME The day-by-day itinerary including details of the performances.

Front cover: Magdalen bell tower, Oxford, 1924–1926. By George F. Nicholls.

Heritage-Images / The Print Collector / akg-images

21.

BOOKING

The booking form, details of our booking process, and terms and conditions.

Photograph opposite: Magdalen College Chapel, ©Magdalen College Oxford.

Produced: July 2020

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INTRODUCTION

THE DIVINE OFFICE: AN INTRODUCTION

Seventeen concerts, including the complete Divine Office: this festival is a truly extraordinary musical, architectural and spiritual experience.

Caution need not inhibit the use of the word unique.

THE DIVINE OFFICE DAY. A unique feature of the festival is the complete Divine Office, the eight services of the monastic day, performed at the intended times – which means beginning at 1.00am and ending at about 10.00pm.

THE OLDEST AND FINEST COLLEGE CHOIRS. Provision for music to accompany the liturgy was stipulated by the founders of the major early colleges at Oxford, and choral church music there is still very much a living tradition. Magdalen, Merton, New College, Christ Church Cathedral and Queen’s College choirs remain the finest in Oxford and enjoy international reputations for excellence.

Even were you to skip the less agreeably timed Offices, you would still be exposed to the oldest living musicallyenriched ritual in the world. It is the most spiritually charged and aesthetically intense experience to have emerged ACCLAIMED PROFESSIONAL from western civilisation.

ENSEMBLES. Five professional choirs also participate: The Tallis Scholars, For full details of the Divine Off ice Day the world’s leading performers of see pages 10–11 and 13.

Renaissance repertoire; Westminster Cathedral Choir, among the most exalted of liturgical choirs and uniquely experienced in plainsong; Stile Antico, an exciting ensemble which enjoys international acclaim; Contrapunctus, a consort that couples powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship; and Aurora Nova, an allfemale ensemble made up of some of the finest choral singers in the country.

Instruments of Time & Truth, a topclass period instrument ensemble based in Oxford, performs in two concerts.

Members are among the leading specialist players in England.

Photograph: ©Bill Knight (All Soul’s Chapel – taken on The Divine Office, 2015)

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INTRODUCTION

‘ An exceptional programme, venues and artists; truly a magnificent achievement!’

Previous participant on The Divine Off ice.

500 YEARS OF MUSIC, EUROPEWIDE. Much of the music is from the Golden Age of polyphony, the 16th and 17th centuries. The leading English composers are well represented – Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Purcell – while the selection is appropriately skewed in favour of those with Oxford associations – Taverner, Sheppard and, from a later age, Sir John Stainer.

There is a goodly collection of top rank British 20th-century music, by Howells, Finzi, Britten and others, while Roderick Williams is among the contemporary composers.

But there is also plenty of international content. Spanish and Mexican composers of the Golden Age (Guerrero, Victoria, Capillas) feature spectacularly, while Italy is represented by Monteverdi’s Vespers (how better?). There is an enchanting programme of 19th- and 20th-century French compositions

by Poulenc, Fauré, Alain, and the Franco-Flemish Renaissance school is not neglected, Orlando Lassus featuring in particular. The festival finishes with Mozart.

THE FESTIVAL PACKAGE

THE SPEAKERS

The price includes:

Three lectures are included, all by leading experts on subjects central to the festival. They are given in the Oxford Union.

—A ll 17 performances including the eight offices of the Divine Office.

— Three talks by leading academics.

—A ccommodation for four nights, in hotels or in college rooms. Page 18–19.

—B reakfasts and three dinners (wine is included).

—C oach transfers for some of the events, for those staying at the Old Parsonage Hotel, and on the final day to link with public transport options.

— All tips, taxes and admission charges.

—T he assistance of an experienced team of festival staff.

— A detailed programme booklet.

Optional extras: — P re-festival tour. See page 20.

— A rriving a day early in your festival hotel. See page 18.

Professor Stephen Darlington. One of the country’s leading choral conductors – for over 30 years he was Director of Music at Christ Church, establishing it as an acknowledged centre of academic musical excellence, and maintaining the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in the Cathedral.

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Three books by Oxford’s Professor of the History of the Church have won major prizes: Thomas Cranmer: A Life, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490–1700 and A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, which was also an acclaimed six-part television series. He was knighted in 2012.

Peter Phillips. Founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in over 2,200 concerts and made over 60 discs, encouraging interest in polyphony all over the world.

His first book, English Sacred Music 1549–1649, was published by Gimell in 1991, while his second, What We Really Do, appeared in 2013.

— C hapel and library walks, led by architectural historians. See page 11.

— O ptional chant course. See page 17.

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DISCOVER THE PLACE

OXFORD A BEAUTIFUL & SUITABLE CITY

Oxford is one of the world’s great historic cities: a dense accumulation of buildings in every style from the 12th to the 21st centuries.

Architectural greatness is embedded in a web of picturesque streets and alleys and dappled with lawns, veteran trees and riverside meadows.

The city is also a uniquely apposite location for a celebration of church music – especially for a recreation of the monastic hours. Reflecting their quasi-monastic origins, many colleges are equipped with cloistral layouts and magnificent chapels.

All the selected chapels are architecturally remarkable, and all have a strong musical tradition. The audience sit alongside or opposite the choir, giving rise to rare proximity and sense of collegiality.

At Christ Church, liturgical singing has an almost unbroken tradition for well over 800 years. Thomas Wolsey intended the college to outshine all its predecessors when he founded it in 1525, and it has the largest quad and the most capacious chapel – which doubles as a cathedral. Wolsey established 16 choristers and chose John Taverner, greatest of early Tudor composers, as Informator Choristarum.

There are earlier foundations, but by the generosity of its endowment and by the prescriptions of its 1264 statutes, Merton qualifies as the first fully-fledged college in either Oxford or Cambridge. The chapel is also Oxford’s earliest, and many hold it to be the most beautiful. From the outset, there was provision for vocal music to accompany the liturgy.

Illustration: Oxford, Radcliffe Camera, etching and aquatint c. 1809

by John Bluck.

The ambitions and endowment of Magdalen exceeded those of all previous foundations when established

by Bishop Waynflete in 1458.

Reformation iconoclasm was made good by 19th-century restorations and the glorious chapel is little changed since it was built in 1474–80. Waynflete made

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provision for eight clerks, four chaplains, 16 choristers and an Informator Choristarum. John Sheppard was among the many distinguished holders of this post (1543– 48).

New College enjoyed unprecedented munificence when founded by William of Wykeham in 1379, and its chapel is the biggest of the medieval new-builds in Oxford. The college was the first to be planned around a large quadrangle, and the first in which there were lodgings for undergraduates as well as for fellows. From the outset there was provision for ten chaplains, three clerks and 16 choristers.

Though founded in 1340, no trace of the medieval buildings of The Queen’s College survive as it was entirely rebuilt in the decades around 1700. The result is a pleasing version of English Baroque with a screen to the High Street which is the finest stretch of Classicism in Oxford. The chapel is marked by its restrained beauty and excellent acoustics.

St John the Evangelist on Iffley Road was built for an Anglican religious community known as the Cowley Fathers. A beautiful late Victorian design by G.F. Bodley, it has been well adapted for use as a concert hall.

University College Chapel was begun in 1639 but was not completed until 1666, building having been interrupted by the civil wars and interregnum. Fittings from that time include the painted windows and the antechapel screen. Its founder, William of Durham, died in 1249, so the college is entitled to claim to be the oldest in any English university.

DISCOVER THE PLACE

We are very grateful to the various college authorities for granting us the privilege of using the chapels for this festival.

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THE PROGRAMME

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 1 Monday 27 September

Getting to Oxford There are regular direct trains from London, Southampton, Manchester, York and various other places, and there are frequent coach services from London.

Festival staff will be at the railway station between 12.00 noon and 2.15pm on 27th September to despatch you in taxis, for which there will be no charge on this day.

Arriving by car: all Oxford authorities discourage the use of cars. There are no public car parks in Oxford in which you can park for longer than 72 hours. This may change and we will inform participants if so. Parking is available at some hotels (see pages 18–19), but not at the colleges.

Day 2 Tuesday 28 September

The festival begins at 2.45pm at the Oxford Union with a lecture by Professor Stephen Darlington.

Free time and optional walks.

Concert, 4.00pm on Monday or 3.00pm on Tuesday: Merton College Chapel Merton College Choir Benjamin Nicholas director

Concert, 4.00pm on Monday or 3.00pm on Tuesday: Magdalen College Chapel Magdalen College Choir Mark Williams director

A survey of British choral music inspired by the Anglican liturgy, this concert includes works for choir and organ (Walton’s Jubilate, Finzi’s Lo, the full f inal sacrif ice, and Howells’s Te Deum for King’s College, Cambridge) showcasing Merton’s splendid new instrument.

The programme also features Purcell’s festal setting of the coronation anthem I was glad, and two 20th-century works exploiting double-choir sonorities: Harris’s Bring us, O Lord God and Tavener’s Hymn to the Mother of God.

This programme surveys 400 years of the Anglican musical tradition, ranging from the dawn of the Reformation (Tallis’s If ye love me) via the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages (works by Byrd, Gibbons, and Tomkins) and the Restoration (Purcell’s Hear my prayer) to the 18th century (Boyce’s The sorrows of our heart), and providing a taste of the rich variety of responses to sacred texts by English composers of the 20th and 21st centuries (including Britten, Howells, and Tavener).

Concert, 7.15pm or 9.15pm: Christ Church Cathedral The Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips director

Concert, 6.00pm: New College Chapel New College Choir Robert Quinney director

The sacred music of Golden-Age Spain inspired that of the great cathedrals of the Spanish New World. This concert juxtaposes works from the Old World and the New, with music by Francisco Guerrero (including his Easter motet Maria Magdalene) and Tomás Luis de Victoria (including his double-choir Ave Maria), and by the two most important 17th-century composers working at the Cathedrals of Puebla and Mexico City: Juan Gutierrez de Padilla and Francisco López Capillas.

Programme to be announced.

Dinner is provided, either before or after the evening performance (depending on the time you attend).

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In the morning, Peter Phillips gives a lecture in the Oxford Union.

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Divided audience Participants will be divided into two audiences for those concerts (12 of the 17) in venues that are too small to accommodate everyone.

THE PROGRAMME

Day 3 Wednesday 29 September

Lecture at the Oxford Union with Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Concert, 11.15am or 4.00pm: Christ Church Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral Choir Steven Grahl director Framing the concert are two pieces by John Taverner, the first Master of the Choristers at Cardinal College, Oxford (subsequently refounded at Christ Church). The survival of the Latin motet in Protestant England during the later 16th and 17th centuries is explored through music by William Byrd and Henry Purcell, while the centrepiece of the programme is the exuberant setting of the Magnifcat

by Giles Swayne, a work commissioned by Christ Church in 1982 and which draws upon African song.

Dinner in New College Great Hall.

Free time and optional walks.

Concert, 9.00pm: New College Chapel Aurora Nova Patrick Craig director

Concert, 11.15am or 4.00pm: The Queen’s College Chapel Stile Antico

An imaginative programme of music for upper voices by French composers active between the late 19th century and the middle of the 20th century. Several items – including settings of Ave Maria and Salve Regina – are drawn from Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites, and the largest-scale work is Poulenc’s Litanies à la Vierge Noire. Movements from Mass settings by Gabriel Fauré, Guy Ropartz, and Jean Langlais are interspersed with Eucharistic motets by Poulenc, Vincent d’Indy, André Caplet, and Jehan Alain.

The concert presents music associated with three of the most powerful female rulers of the 16th century: Margaret of Austria, and Mary I and Elizabeth I of England. Margaret was patron to such Habsburg musicians as Pierre de

Illustrations.

Left: Christ Church, Tom Tower, wood engraving c. 1880. Above: New College Chapel, watercolour by George F. Carline publ. 1922.

Photograph: dinner in Trinity Hall, The Divine Office 2015 ©Bill Knight.

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la Rue, composer of a moving setting of King David’s lament Absalon f ili mi. The programme includes works by senior composers of Queen Mary’s chapel, Tallis and Sheppard, and madrigals from The Triumphs of Oriana, published towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign.

Concert, 6.30pm: University Church of St Mary Contrapunctus The Choir of Queen’s College Instruments of Time & Truth Owen Rees director Monteverdi’s lavish Vespers, written in Mantua and published in 1610 with an eye on both the Roman and Venetian markets, has become one of the most famous collections of liturgical music. It contains an extraordinary kaleidoscope of styles (traditional and modern) and textures (solo, choral, and instrumental). For this performance the solo voices of earlymusic consort Contrapunctus are joined by the Choir of The Queen’s College and Oxford’s period-instrument orchestra, Instruments of Time & Truth.

Dinner this evening is independent.

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THE PROGRAMME

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 4 Thursday 30 September DIVINE OFFICE DAY

MATINS, 1.00am

PRIME, 6.30am

SEXT, 12.00 noon

Merton College Chapel Merton College Choir polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant or Christ Church Cathedral The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant

The Queen’s College Chapel The Queen’s College Choir polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant or University College Chapel The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant

Merton College Chapel The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant or Magdalen College Chapel Magdalen College Choir polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant

The liturgical day starts with the Night Off ice, potentially the longest of the Canonical Hours, though we are limiting it to 60 minutes. Musically it is also one of the most important of the Offices, including some of the most ancient chants and finishing with a Te Deum.

A short service is the first of the ‘Little Hours’, timed so that the congregations enter the chapels before dawn and leave in daylight – and therefore we have chosen chapels with outstanding stained glass.

The third of the ‘Little Hours’ is at the hour which is the sixth, according to the system by which twelve hours are counted from dawn to sundown.

LAUDS, 4.00am

New College Chapel The Tallis Scholars polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant

Christ Church Cathedral The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant or Merton College Chapel Stile Antico polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant

Optional walks and library visit.

TERCE & MASS, 9.15am

The second of the ‘Little Hours’ is followed immediately by Morning Mass, the principal service of the Catholic Church.

New College Chapel has the capacity to accommodate the whole audience.

Christ Church Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral Choir polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant or University College Chapel The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant The last of the ‘Little Hours’, with a duration of about half an hour.

Also called Morning Prayer, Lauds, which in high summer might be at daybreak, is musically also one of the three most important Offices. It includes the canticle Beata es Maria.

Optional walks and library visit.

Getting there.

MRT staff lead from hotels for the night Offices and a coach is provided for those staying at the Old Parsonage.

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NONE, 3.30pm

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THE PROGRAMME

‘ So many special moments that I will carry with me for years to come.’

Previous participant on The Divine Off ice.

Day 5 Friday 1 October

VESPERS, 6.45pm Magdalen College Chapel The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant or The Queen’s College Chapel Westminster Cathedral Choir (men and boys) polyphony and chant Vespers is musically the most significant of the Offices, being the first to admit polyphony and progressing to become the arena for some of the greatest music ever written. The Magnif icat is the principal canticle.

Supper follows in either The Divinity School or Trinity College Hall.

COMPLINE, 9.15pm University College Chapel Stile Antico polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir men chant or Christ Church Cathedral The Tallis Scholars polyphony Aurora Nova chant The last Office of the day features the singing of the votive antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Concert, 11.00am: St John the Evangelist Merton College Choir Rowan Pierce soprano Instruments of Time & Truth Benjamin Nicholas director This concert evokes the musical drama and splendour with which Vespers was celebrated in late 18th-century Salzburg, where Mozart worked in the early part of his career. Mozart’s skills as an operatic composer are apparent in the dramatic treatment of the psalm texts of the Solemn Vespers de confessore, and even more so in the virtuosic solo motet Exsultate, Jubilate, sung here by award-winning soprano Rowan Pierce, which ends with the famous exuberant Alleluia.

Immediately after the concert, coaches will be available to take you to the railway and coach stations.

Chapel and library walks

Illustration: Oxford, Turl Street, watercolour

by Yoshio Markino, publ. 1910.

Visits to chapels and libraries with an architectural historian are offered as optional extras, providing the opportunity to learn about buildings in which you will be spending quite a lot of time.

The lecturers are John McNeill and Dr Geoffrey Tyack, both architectural historians and residents of Oxford.

Details available in Spring 2021.

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THE DIVINE OFFICE DAY

Tickets for individual performances may be available from August 2021.

Please contact us to register interest.

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THE DIVINE OFFICE DAY

THE DIVINE OFFICE DAY

‘ The Divine Office was an exquisite experience... we will always be grateful.’

Previous participant on The Divine Off ice.

The central component of this festival is the performance of the complete Divine Office, within the span of a single day and at the appropriate times.

No other musical experience could be as sublime and spiritually charged.

Illustration: Oxford, Merton College, etching by Mortimer Menpes (1855–1938).

The principal features of the Offices are the chanting of psalms with their antiphons, the singing of hymns and canticles, and the chanting of readings from the Bible with sung responsories. The tradition has changed little in nearly 1,500 years, and aspects may go back further: the roots of plainchant (‘Gregorian’ chant) may lie in Jewish or Pharaonic practice.

Though this ‘performance’ of the Divine Office (they are concerts, not services) is basically as authentic a rendering as might have been performed in late-medieval or Renaissance Britain or Europe, there are some departures from liturgical correctness. It does not follow the texts prescribed for a particular day, and we err on the side of musical elaboration beyond what is canonically necessary.

The polyphonic passages have been selected from among the finest ever composed, within an overarching Marian theme, though this is hardly limiting.

Ten choirs take part, two of which – The Tallis Scholars and Westminster Cathedral Choir – have opted to participate in all eight Offices. Apart from sleep deprivation there are two challenges facing contemporary choirs wishing to perform the complete Divine Office: vocal stamina and the quantity of plainchant whose singing is a specialist skill not easily mastered. Our solution is to engage two choirs for most of the Hours, one to perform the chant and the other the polyphony, which used to be standard practice in the better endowed cathedrals and colleges.

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Were you to attend all eight Hours, you would become one of an elite few among living souls to have done so, so rare is the opportunity now. Even were you to skip the less agreeably timed ones, you would be exposed to what is one of the most potent spiritual and aesthetic experiences available in the world today. Moreover, it could be said, at the risk of divine wrath for extreme hubris, that, musically, this manifestation of the Divine Office will rank as the finest ever performed (along with the three previous editions of this festival), it being unprecedented for so many firstrate choirs to participate.

As the capacity of the chapels is limited, all but one of the Offices are performed in two chapels simultaneously. Audience members are assigned to a particular stream of the eight Hours to ensure maximum variety of choirs and chapels.

We shall ask that there be no applause at any time during this extraordinary day, and that silence prevails while in the chapels.

The eight Offices of the Hours: 1.00am: MATINS 4.00am: LAUDS 6.30am (dawn): PRIME 9.15am: TERCE & MASS 12.00 noon: SEXT 3.30pm: NONE 6.45pm: VESPERS 9.15pm: COMPLINE

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CHOIRS & MUSICIANS

MEET THE CHOIRS & MUSICIANS

Photograph: Stile Antico ©Marco Borggreve.

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CHOIRS & MUSICIANS

AURORA NOVA Aurora Nova were founded by Patrick Craig in 1996 to perform a concert of sacred music for women’s voices in London, raising money for charities supporting victims of domestic violence and breast cancer. With some of the best choral singers in London, their voices make up the top lines of many of this country’s finest groups including The Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen, the Gabrieli Consort, and the BBC Singers. The following year Aurora Nova was invited to become the first all-female professional choir to lead the Sunday services at St Paul’s Cathedral. Since then 18 women have sung on over 60 Sundays at the Cathedral, encompassing a vast array of sacred repertoire.

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR Unique in the world as both Cathedral and College choir, the intimate acoustic of its musical home, Oxford’s 12th-century Cathedral, has given it a relationship with early sacred music and the rhythm and vigour of contemporary idioms which is second to none. There are 12 men and 16 boys in the choir, and three organists.

The boys are selected for their musical ability and attend Christ Church Cathedral School. Of the men, six are professionals and six are undergraduates. The Cathedral is renowned for training many of the country’s leading organists and the choir is directed by Steven Grahl.

CONTRAPUNCTUS Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, Contrapunctus presents music by the best known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. The scholarly facet of the group’s work allows audiences to experience the first performances of many works in modern times. Since its foundation in 2010, the group has appeared in many prestigious music festivals including Martin Randall Travel’s Seville: A Festival of Spanish Music. The group is Vocal Consort in Residence at the University of Oxford.

Photographs, clockwise from top left: Aurora Nova ©Graham Lacdao; Instruments of Time & Truth ©Nick Rutter; Contrapunctus ©John Cairns.

More about the concerts Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package. Tickets for some concerts may be put on sale from August 2021, if any spare places remain.

Secular. All performances are concerts rather than religious services.

Duration. Most are a little less than an hour.

Matins may be 80 minutes, while four of the Offices are about half an hour. None of the concerts has an interval.

You don’t have to attend them all!

17 concerts is a lot to absorb in five days.

To conserve energy it might be wise to omit one or two.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved.

You sit where you want. Most seating is in stalls or pews.

Audience size. There will be up to 220 participants on the festival.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs: there are many circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.

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CHOIRS & MUSICIANS

INSTRUMENTS OF TIME & TRUTH Instruments of Time & Truth is a periodinstrument ensemble whose aim is to present world-class performances of Baroque and Classical music in Oxford and the surrounding region. The ensemble is a showcase for the exceptional talents of international period musicians resident in and around Oxford. Many hold Principal positions with established groups such as The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The English Baroque Soloists.

MAGDALEN COLLEGE CHOIR Magdalen’s internationally famous choir has changed little since its foundation in 1480, still being composed of 16 boys from Magdalen College School and 12 undergraduates. As well as performing its duties in the college chapel services, it regularly gives concerts and broadcasts and makes recordings. The current Informator Choristarum – Director of Music – is Mark Williams, formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge. As a conductor he has worked with the Britten Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the City of London Choir.

MERTON COLLEGE CHOIR

THE QUEEN’S COLLEGE CHOIR

Described by Gramophone as ‘one of the UK’s finest choral ensembles’, Merton College Choir is a mixed-voice choir which came to the fore a few years ago after the generous Reed Rubin benefaction. It has performed recently in the USA, France, Sweden and St Peter’s Rome – from where its Choral Evensong was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. During term-time the choir sings the services in Merton College Chapel, and it has made several recordings. The current Organist and Director of Music is Benjamin Nicholas, an Oxford organ scholar who has worked at, inter alia, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey.

The Choir of The Queen’s College, directed by Owen Rees, is among the finest university choirs in the UK. Its repertory includes a rich array of music from the Renaissance to contemporary.

During term the choir sings for services in the college’s splendid Baroque chapel.

It performs in many parts of the UK and abroad and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio. It records for the Signum and Avie labels and appears on the Grammynominated soundtrack of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince.

NEW COLLEGE CHOIR

Stile Antico is an ensemble of young British singers who are now established as one of the most original and exciting voices in the field. The group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America and its recordings have received major awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Working without a conductor, they rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the musical result. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality, expressiveness and imaginative response to the text.

Established in the late 14th century in accordance with William of Wykeham’s statutes for the college, it remains a group of 16 choristers and 14 adult clerks; the latter a mixture of professional singers and undergraduate members of the college.

It is now one of the most lauded choral groups in Britain and is well-respected internationally. They perform in concerts in the UK and regularly tour abroad, and have made over 100 recordings. The choir is directed by Robert Quinney who was previously sub-organist at Westminster Abbey and Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral.

Photographs, clockwise from top left: Merton College Choir ©John Cairns; Magdalen College Choir; The Queen’s College Choir ©Nick Rutter.

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STILE ANTICO

CHOIRS & MUSICIANS, THE CHANT COURSE

Photographs, clockwise from left: The Tallis Scholars ©Eric Richmond; Westminster Cathedral Choir ©Simon Tottman; Rowan Pierce ©Gerard Collett.

THE TALLIS SCHOLARS

ROWAN PIERCE

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by Peter Phillips. Through their recordings and concerts they have established themselves as the world’s leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serves the repertoire from the late 15th to the early 17th centuries. They have performed in sacred and secular venues on six continents (plans are afoot for the seventh), and give around 70 concerts each year. Gimell Records was set up in 1980 solely to record the group, and their recordings have attracted many awards throughout the world.

Yorkshire-born Rowan Pierce is a Samling Artist who has performed at the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Sage Gateshead, Cheltenham, Ludlow, Bath and Ryedale Festivals with ensembles including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Florilegium, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Opera roles include Galatea in Acis & Galatea with the Academy of Ancient Music and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. Recent and future performances include The Fairy Queen with both the Academy of Ancient Music and the Gabrieli Consort, Bach’s B minor Mass with the City of London Sinfonia, and Papagena in The Magic Flute for English National Opera where she is a Harewood Artist.

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL CHOIR

THE CHANT COURSE: LEARN TO SING PLAINSONG Plainchant – also called plainsong, Gregorian chant or simply chant – is probably the oldest musical form in the world. Its roots reach deep into the pre-Christian world, and it is still a living tradition in monasteries and churches around the world (and occasionally in concert halls). In this festival, chant will play a leading role in the recreation of the Divine Office.

We are offering the opportunity to learn to sing chant in three sessions on successive days, the first at 11.30am on 27th September. There may be the possibility on the fourth day of participating in Vespers or Sext alongside Aurora Nova and the Tallis Scholars.

The tutor is counter-tenor Patrick Craig, Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, member of leading consorts (he sang more than 1,000 concerts with The Tallis Scholars), founder of Aurora Nova and tutor at many summer schools and courses.

Westminster Cathedral Choir was founded in 1903, and has since gained a reputation as one of the foremost choirs in Britain, and indeed the world. The choir has a history of commissioning new works by such composers as Britten, Vaughan Williams and Tavener. As well as touring in the UK and abroad, featuring on radio and television and making many recordings, it is the only Catholic cathedral choir in the world to sing daily Mass and Vespers.

Anyone who books The Divine Off ice is welcome to apply for this course, though we will have to be selective. Please provide brief details of your choral experience with your application. We should point out that though participation does not require you to miss any of the concerts, you would have little opportunity to join any of the optional walks and visits. £160 per person • 10 –22 participants WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

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ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES Accommodation for four nights MAGDALEN COLLEGE is included. We have selected five hotels and two colleges for These are student rooms, so you to choose from. most are for single occupancy and all are fairly basic and The choice of hotel or college institutional. On the other is the main determinant of hand, they have to be smart variations in the price. All prices and comfortable enough to are per person. be let during vacations for conferences and events (an Rooms vary. As is inevitable in essential source of revenue), historic buildings, which these and all have en-suite bathrooms mostly are, rooms vary in size (with showers, not baths). and outlook.

Some rooms are fairly large. All were refurbished in 2016.

Quiet? Those staying in hotels may be affected by some traffic Whatever may be sacrificed in noise. Accommodation in the comfort is gained in historic colleges is quieter. and scenic setting within the cloistered confines of ancient Suites. Some hotels have suites colleges. At Magdalen rooms and deluxe rooms. All are overlook the Deer Park. (Note subject to availability at the there is no access to indoor time of booking. common areas except the hall and chapel for breakfasts, There may be rooms available dinners and concerts.) for the night of Sunday 26 September in hotels. Please Adjacent rooms could be contact us if you would like reserved for couples where to book a room for this night. that is possible.

However, it is often the case that you will find a better rate magd.ox.ac.uk for extra nights by booking directly with the hotel rather PRICES, per person than through us. Please note that there are no rooms available Single occupancy at Magdalen College on Sunday Single room £2,240 26 September and very limited availability at Pembroke College.

Participation in our festivals is a very different experience from conventional group travel. No repetitive or redundant announcements, no herding by elevated umbrella, no unnecessary roll calls, little hanging around. We work on the assumption that you are adults, and our staff cultivate the virtue of unobtrusiveness.

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Though there will be up to 220 participants, you will often find yourself in smaller groups – the audience is divided between seven hotels and colleges, and into different restaurants for some of the dinners.

PEMBROKE COLLEGE

EASTGATE HOTEL (4*)

The rooms are in a handsome new development, opened in 2013, which is built around a clutch of small quads and terraces. The bedrooms and their en-suite bathrooms (showers, not baths) are compact and sparse: this is student accommodation, and the college is not a hotel (which also means there are no receptionists as such). Rooms are for single occupancy. There is a café on site which is open during the day but there is no lounge or communal space.

Stone steps are a feature.

Built on the site of a former coaching inn, the Eastgate – a Mercure hotel – is excellently located for many of the concerts. Bedrooms have little character but are comfortable with all mod cons. Public rooms are agreeable.

Architecturally this is a pleasing environment, and antiquity is amply supplied by the need to pass through two quads in order to reach the street, and by the hall where breakfast is served, which is modified medieval. Pembroke is opposite the Tom Gate entrance to Christ Church College.

Its location in narrow Merton Street makes it one of the quietest of our selection of hotels though some rooms overlook the High Street.

There is a car park which costs c. £25 per night; there is no need to pre-book. accorhotels.com PRICES, per person Two sharing Standard room

£2,430

Single occupancy Double for sole use

£2,690

pmb.ox.ac.uk PRICES, per person Single occupancy Single room

£2,240

We provide sufficient information to enable you to navigate the festival events without needing to be led.

However, festival staff are also stationed around the events to direct you if needed.

For those who are not averse to group activities there are optional walks and visits to sign up to. You choose the level of participation that suits you.

CONTACT US: +44 (0)20 8742 3355

Meals Three dinners are provided, two of which are in college halls.

The food provided in college halls is of high quality and such as one might expect of a good restaurant. It is of a standard provided for high table on special occasions and not for students.

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

VANBRUGH HOUSE (4*)

OLD PARSONAGE (5*)

OLD BANK (5*)

RANDOLPH (5*)

A former post office, the Vanbrugh House Hotel is based in two 18th-century houses on a quiet side street in central Oxford. Due to the historic nature of the building, bedrooms vary in size and outlook. It has been tastefully decorated in neutral colours throughout and has a pleasant, though small, lounge. The hotel will be used exclusively by Divine Office participants.

This is a very attractive hotel.

Its core is a lovely 17th-century rectory and the public areas in this part are delightful – colourful, comfortable and idiosyncratic. A remarkable collection of 20th-century paintings covers the walls. The restaurant is good. After all this charm and warmth, the bedrooms in the new block to the rear are disappointingly ordinary, though they are equipped with all the usual mod cons. The hotel has recently been entirely refurbished.

Housed in a former bank built in the 19th century, this boutique hotel is comfortable and stylish; service is excellent.

Public spaces include a library and an Italianate courtyard garden. Rooms have modern décor and many have views of spires and rooftops. Rooms at the front of the hotel look out over the busy High Street though noise-proof glazing is effective. Venues are within 10 or 12 minutes on foot.

The most famous hotel in Oxford, the venerable Randolph is housed in an austere Gothic Revival building in Beaumont Street. The bedrooms, of which there are several categories, are well decorated in a fairly traditional way and are very comfortable.

Public rooms include a ‘Morse’ bar, a bright and airy lounge and a fine restaurant. Run by the Macdonald hotel group, service is more comparable to that of a 4-star hotel. Rooms with a street view may hear some traffic noise.

The hotel no longer serves breakfast in-house, instead it is served next door at Bill’s Restaurant.

There is no parking available at this hotel. vanbrughhousehotel.co.uk

Due to its situation on the edge of central Oxford, transport by private coach will be arranged for some of the concerts, but many journeys will be on foot and could be up to 30 minutes.

Taxis are easily obtained.

PRICES, per person Two sharing Standard room £2,580 Suite £2,770 Single occupancy Double for sole use

There is very limited parking – spaces cannot be guaranteed.

Free parking is available and there is no need to pre-book. oldbank-hotel.co.uk

Most venues are 15–20 minutes away on foot.

PRICES, per person Two sharing Standard room Superior room

£2,980 £3,140

Parking costs c. £32 per night and must be pre-booked with the concierge. macdonaldhotels.co.uk

Single occupancy Double for sole use

£3,350

PRICES, per person

oldparsonage-hotel.co.uk PRICES, per person

£2,980 Two sharing Standard room £2,830 Superior room £2,940 Suite £3,110 Single occupancy Double for sole use

Two sharing Standard room £2,980 Superior room £3,140 Suite £3,470 Single occupancy Double for sole use

£3,420

£3,200

Illustration: Oxford, New College Chapel, late-18th-century engraving (detail).

WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

19

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR

WALKING A ROYAL RIVER Pre-festival tour: 20 –26 September 2021 (mh 899) 7 days • £2,540 Lecturer: Paul Atterbury Walk between two and five miles a day from the source of the Thames to Hampton Court.

Along the towpath and through the gentle hills which flank the valley.

Visit villages, churches, country houses, gardens and palaces with regal connections from the Middle Ages to the present day.

ITINERARY Day 1: Thames Head. Leave The Swan Hotel, Bibury, at 2.15pm or Kemble Railway Station at 3.00pm. The tour begins with the source of the Thames. A soaring rockface, a majestic spurt: an awesome spectacle. Actually, no. A damp patch, the trickle varying with yesterday’s weather, reached by walking across three fields.

Walk from Thames Head to Ewen: 3½ miles, c. 1½ hours. An easy walk on grassy, level fields and along the river bed. First of three nights in Bibury.

founder of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Kelmscott Manor is currently undergoing conservation and our visit is subject to confirmation. In the afternoon visit Buscot Park, a Palladian mansion with Burne Jones paintings and outstanding gardens.

is a gallery of his work and a fine parish church. Visit Windsor Castle, founded by William I and occupied by every monarch since. The Queen spends most of her private weekends at the Castle, which is also used for State occasions.

Day 4: Wittenham Clumps, Dorchester, Ewelme. Begin at the river at Shillingford and then walk up to Wittenham Clumps, a pair of hillocks with views over a particularly attractive stretch of the Thames Valley: c. 4½ miles, 2 hours. This is a moderate walk that descends through woods and across farmland, passing an Iron Age fort, to Dorchester-on-Thames.

Visit the abbey church here, one of the finest medieval buildings in Oxfordshire, where St Birinus baptised King Cynegils of Wessex in 635. Continue to Ewelme, site of a Saxon palace, and today a unique complex of 15th-century church, almshouses and school, all still functioning.

First of three nights in Marlow.

Day 7: Hampton Court Palace, London.

An easy, level walk from Kingston Bridge to Hampton Court: 1½ miles, c. 45 minutes. Begun by Cardinal Wolsey, the palace was enlarged by Henry VIII and 150 years later partly rebuilt by Christopher Wren for William III and Mary II. The most sumptuous of surviving Tudor palaces is joined to the most magnificent of 17thcentury buildings in Britain; great interiors, fine works of art, beautiful gardens, a formal park. Drive to London, arriving by c. 3.00pm.

Day 5: Hardwick, Henley-on-Thames, Cliveden. Mapledurham House is an Day 2: Inglesham, Lechlade, Great Elizabethan stately home that has been Coxwell. Begin the day with Inglesham in the same family for about five hundred church, a beautifully isolated church dating years. It is open by special arrangement. to Saxon times. Continue on foot and walk See the River and Rowing Museum at c. 3 miles along the river to Lechlade-onHenley-on-Thames with its extensive Thames (c. 1½ hours), a vibrant small town collection of art, photographs and with a fine Gothic church and a handsome boats relating to river history. Cliveden’s bridge. Visit the masterful medieval barn magnificent formal gardens and woods at Great Coxwell, which King John gave beside the Thames have been admired for to the Cistercian monks in 1203 as part centuries. Cliveden was once the glittering of the Manor of Faringdon. Walk back to hub of society, visited by virtually every Bibury: 2½ miles, c. 1¼ hours. An easy British monarch since George I, home to walk through fields and woodland with two Waldorf and Nancy Astor in the early 20th short ascents and a descent to Bibury. century and renowned for its parties and political gatherings.

Day 3: Buscot, Kelmscott. Begin the walk at Buscot, whose church has a Burne Jones Day 6: Cookham, Windsor. An easy walk window. It is an easy walk to Kelmscott from the hotel, on a level, tarmac or grass on a level, grassy path beside the Thames: beside the river to Cookham: 4½ miles, c. c. 2½ miles, 1 hour. Break in Kelmscott 2 hours. Cookham is the life-long home of Village, once the home of William Morris, painter Stanley Spencer (1891–1959); there

20

CONTACT US: +44 (0)20 8742 3355

PRACTICALITIES Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,540.

Single occupancy: £2,890.

Included meals: 1 lunch and 4 dinners.

Accommodation. The Swan, Bibury (cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk): 4-star, former 17th-century coaching inn.

The Compleat Angler, Marlow (macdonaldhotels.co.uk): comfortable 4-star hotel, beside the Thames.

How strenuous? This is a walking tour, graded ‘easy’ (visit our website for more details or contact us). There are 7 walks, all graded ‘easy’ with the exception of one moderately strenuous route which involves a climb of 230 ft. Average distance by coach per day: 38 miles.

Group size: 10 –22 participants.

Illustration: Henley-on-Thames, watercolour

by Ernest W. Haslehurst, publ. c. 1930.

BOOKING FORM

THE DIVINE OFFICE 27 SEPTEMBER–1 OCTOBER 2021 (mh 906) NAME(S) – We do not use titles on documents issued to festival or tour participants unless you want us to by including them here: Participant 1 Participant 2 Contact details for all correspondence: Address

Postcode/Zip Country Telephone (home) Mobile E-mail T ick if you are happy to receive your festival / booking documents online, where possible – and confirm your e-mail address above if so.

Please complete this section, even if you have told us your preferences before: How would you like to be kept informed about our future tours and events?:

E-newsletter

Brochures sent by post

Yes

No

Yes

No

E-newsletter recipients are among the f irst to hear about our future plans and newly-launched tour departures.

What prompted this booking? Please be as specific as possible – e.g. did you see an advertisement?:

ACCOMMODATION & ROOM-TYPE – see pages 18–19. Please tick: Double for sole use

Standard room (two sharing)

Superior room (two sharing)

Suite (two sharing)

MAGDALEN COLLEGE

-

-

-

-

PEMBROKE COLLEGE

-

-

-

-

Single

EASTGATE HOTEL

-

-

VANBRUGH HOUSE

-

-

OLD PARSONAGE

-

OLD BANK

-

RANDOLPH

-

SHARING A ROOM?

-

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR – see page 20.

Please tick one: Twin beds

Double bed

THE CHANT COURSE: LEARN TO SING PLAINSONG See page 17.

To apply, please e-mail: sarah.pullen@martinrandall.co.uk Please provide brief details of your choral experience in your application.

Spaces are limited.

Please tick to book: Walking a Royal River 20–26 September 2021 (mh 899) Room type – please select one: Double for sole use Double room (two sharing) Twin room (two sharing)

FURTHER INFORMATION and special requests, including any dietary requirements:

BOOKING FORM

PASSPORT DETAILS In case of emergency – UK residents are not required to complete this section.

Title

Surname

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Forename(s)

Place of birth

1.

2.

Passport number

Issue date (dd/mm/yy)

Place of issue

Expiry date (dd/mm/yy)

1.

2.

NEXT OF KIN. Participants of all nationalities are required to complete this section.

Next of kin name

Relation to you

Telephone number(s)

1.

2.

PAYMENT. We prefer payments by bank transfer or debit card. We can also accept payment by credit card. All money paid to us is fully protected regardless of payment method. Please tick one option: BANK TRANSFER. Please use your surname and the festival code (mh 906) as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Bank: Handelsbanken, 2 Chiswick High Road, London W4 1TH. Account number: 8663 3438. Sort code: 40-51-62.

Transfers from non-UK bank accounts: please instruct your bank to send payment in pound sterling (GBP). IBAN: GB98 HAND 4051 6286 6334 38. Swift/BIC code: HAND GB22.

DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX. TRANSFERRING FUNDS. Tick this box if you are transferring money from another booking, from a cancelled or postponed tour, or a credit note. Please specify amount you would like to transfer below.

Please tick payment amount: EITHER Deposit 10% of total booking cost.

OR Full balance Required if you are booking within 10 weeks of the start of this event.

TOTAL: £

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions and Privacy Policy (www.martinrandall.com/privacy) on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signature: Date:

FITNESS TESTS Please also read ‘fitness for the festival’ on page 23. By signing this form, you conf irm that you have taken these tests.

1. C hair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in 30 seconds.

2. S tep test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least 60 times in two minutes.

3. A gility test. Place an object three yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds.

An additional indication of the f itness required is that you should be able to walk unaided at a pace of three miles per hour for at least half an hour at a time, and to stand for at least 30 minutes.

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

North America 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 USA

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@martinrandall.com.au

Tel 1 800 988 6168 usa@martinrandall.com ATOL 3622 | ABTA Y6050 | AITO 5085

BOOKING DETAILS

Making a booking 1. Booking option. We recommend that you contact us first to make an optional booking which we will hold for seven days. To confirm it please send the booking form and deposit within this period – the deposit is 10% of your total booking price.

Alternatively, make a definite booking straight away through our website.

2. Definite booking. Fill in the booking form and send it to us with the deposit. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the booking form. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of departure.

3. Our confirmation. Upon receipt of the booking form and deposit we shall send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is nonreturnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions. Further details about the festival or tour may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.

Booking Conditions Please read these. You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form.

Our promises to you: —W e aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity.

—W e will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, usually going far beyond the minimum obligations.

—W e aim to provide full and accurate information about our holidays. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly.

— I f something does go wrong, we try to put it right.

Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services.

What we ask of you. That you read the information we send to you.

Specific terms: Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Eligibility. You must be in good health and have a level of fitness that would not impair other participants’ enjoyment by slowing them down or by absorbing disproportionate attention from our staff. Please read ‘Fitness for the festival’ and take the self-assessment tests described on the booking form; by signing the booking form you are stating that you have passed these tests. If during the festival or tour it transpires, in the judgement of our staff, that you are not able to cope, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits or to leave the festival or tour altogether. This would be at your own expense. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking without necessarily giving a reason.

Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance cover. For non-UK residents the insurance must cover, at minimum, medical treatment in the UK and repatriation; please also ensure that your insurance covers the cost of your international travel in the rare event of Martin Randall Travel cancelling the festival or tour. We advise that all participants have holiday insurance in place that covers loss of property and loss of payments to us in the event that you cancel your booking. Experience indicates that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not to be relied upon.

Passports and visas. Non-UK residents must have passports valid for six months beyond the date of the festival or tour. Visas are not currently required for the UK for EU citizens, or for citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required and obtain them if they are.

If you cancel. If you have to withdraw from the festival or tour, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before the festival or tour the deposit would be forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost of the festival or tour will be due: up to 57 days: between 56 and 29 days: between 28 and 15 days: between 14 days and 3 days: within 48 hours:

deposit only 40% 60% 80% 100%

If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room but are travelling with a companion who chooses to continue to participate in the festival or tour, the companion would have to pay the single-occupancy price.

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive written confirmation of cancellation.

If we cancel. We may decide to cancel the festival or tour if there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable (though this would always be more than eight weeks before departure). We would refund you with everything you had paid us.

Safety and security. Cancellation may also occur if civil unrest, war, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure arise in the region to which the festival or tour was due to go.

Health and safety. We have a safety auditing process in place and, as a minimum, request that all of our suppliers comply with local health and safety regulations. We ask that you take note of the safety information we provide.

Financial protection. Payments for festivals or tours which do not include a flight from/to the UK (such as those included in this brochure) are protected

by ABTA –The Travel Association. So, in the (highly unlikely) event of our insolvency in advance of the tour, you would get your money back, or if we failed after the festival or tour had begun, it would be able to continue. Clients living outside the UK who have arranged their own flights should ensure their personal travel insurance covers repatriation in the event of holiday supplier failure.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Privacy. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have read and agree to our Privacy Policy, which can be found online at www. martinrandall.com/privacy.

Fitness for the festival There is a lot of walking involved in this festival, and some halls are reached via flights of stairs. You will need to be able to walk unaided for up to 30 minutes, the time it will take slow walkers to get to the furthest event (though most walks are shorter). Festival staff will not have the resources to assist individuals. Traffic restrictions and congestion render coach transport impractical.

We ask that you take the fitness tests opposite before booking.

If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.

The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of a festival or tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates.

If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating a festival or tour or event exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the festival or tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not in your view an adequate substitute, we would give a full refund.

WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

23

MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL

VENICE: PAGEANTRY & PIETY 2–7 NOVEMBER 2020

Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

POLYPHONY IN PORTUGAL 16–21 MAY 2021

MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas.

MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE 15–22 JUNE 2021 MUSIC ALONG THE DANUBE 20–27 AUGUST 2021 THE DIVINE OFFICE 27 SEPTEMBER– 1 OCTOBER 2021 UK SHORT CHAMBER MUSIC BREAKS The Elias String Quartet, 26–28 March 2021 William Howard & The Carducci String Quartet, 16–18 April 2021 Please contact us for more information.

In recent years we have run 250 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10 –20 participants), five or six music festivals (such as this, The Divine Off ice), a dozen music and history weekends in the UK and around 100 single-day events in London.

For over 30 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

North America 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 USA

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@martinrandall.com.au

Tel 1 800 988 6168 usa@martinrandall.com