Oxford Youth Choirs | Oxford Girls’ Choir | Children’s Choir Oxford

On Friday, 6 March 2026 upper voices from the Junior and Senior choirs participated in a performance of Mahler’s third symphony at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.

Our Musical Director, Ben Goodall, said:
What an incredible concert this was! We were invited by Joe Davies and the Oxford Millennium Orchestra to take part in their performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 — one of the longest and boldest symphonies in the standard repertoire. Members of the Junior and Senior Choirs formed the ‘Knabenchor’; one of the two choirs who sing in the fifth movement of the symphony. Across the term, the members tackled the challenges of singing in German, counting, and understanding the orchestral writing excellently, and this all culminated in a dramatic and exciting performance in the Sheldonian Theatre. Our members listened and waited very patiently through an hour of music before singing, and members of the audience said our entrance made the performance! It was an incredibly exciting opportunity for our members to perform this major work with an 80-player string orchestra (including nine french horns!), and hopefully a concert they won't forget!’

The children really enjoyed the sound of this incredible orchestra, some having never heard an orchestra perform live before, while others are established fans, listening to orchestral recordings regularly at home. Some of our members had performed in the Sheldonian Theatre before, but for many it was their first time in the venue, and they remarked on the great acoustic. From up in the choir stalls, choir members were looking for their families in the audience. We particularly enjoyed the view of the wind players playing ‘bells up!’, projecting their sound across the space, and watching the two percussionists at the timpani. In the Knabenchor, we were singing sounds imitative of bells, which audience members described as ‘genius’!
It was a great experience to participate in such a big performance, getting to understand the challenges and idiosyncrasies of working with a large ensemble. We really appreciate the dedication and discipline of our members who were performing until late after a whole day at school, and then were up early for regular rehearsal on Saturday morning. Well done all!