The Fathers of the Oratory, since the time of St Philip, have always valued music as a tool for drawing people into the worship and love of God.
Following the principle that only our best is good enough for God, the Oratory has always promoted beautiful music for the liturgy. We have a fully professional choir that sings at the Solemn Mass for Sundays and feast days, and an excellent ensemble of volunteers who sing at the 9:30 Mass each Sunday. In the tradition of the English Oratory, our choirs specialise in Catholic sacred music. All our sung Masses incorporate Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony, particularly the great music of the Catholic counter-reformation by composers such as Palestrina, Victoria and Lassus.
You can see the Oratory choir’s music list for this month here.
Director of Music
Appointed as Director of Music in 2021, Rory Moules has been immersed in the world of Catholic music from a young age, moving to Oxford in 2014 as organ scholar of Keble College under Matthew Martin. While completing further studies at Oxford, Rory has held the posts of Organ Scholar of The Queen’s College, Director of Music at Corpus Christi, and, most recently, Associate Organist at Magdalen College from 2019–2021. A Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Rory’s work with the Oratory choir speaks for itself. Hundreds of worshippers in church and online from around the world are regularly treated to some of the best liturgical music in the country each Sunday and feast day.
The Oratory Choir
The Oratory Choir sings for the Solemn Mass on Sundays and feast days. The choir consists of a number of professional singers and a list of approved deputies. If you are a professional singer with good sight-reading ability and experience of singing Gregorian Chant contact the Director of Music for details on how to apply for an audition to join the list: music@oxfordoratory.org.uk.
The Parish Choir
The Parish Choir sings for the 9:30 Mass on Sundays and various Musical Oratories throughout the year. All the singers in the Parish Choir are volunteers. If you are able to read music and have some experience of singing, send us an e-mail to ask about joining the choir.