Katherine Pardee on 20 years at Wadham

I joined Wadham choir in 2020 as one of the ‘pandemic freshers’ - we had a very limited Fresher’s Week, social distancing was fully in place and there were almost no clubs or societies running. One of the few that tried to do anything at all was Wadham’s chapel choir: spaced out around the chapel, evensong was sung online at first, then from behind masks by a reduced choir to a few members of congregation.

I only bring this up to highlight the massive difference between the choir [?] of 2020 and yesterday’s service, which was the final one for our wonderful Choir Director, Katie Pardee.

The choir (and congregation) were out in full force and even a thunderstorm of Biblical proportions couldn’t stop us – the candles were lit, biscuits consumed in the choir common room and it was business as usual. Particularly excellent business actually: the choir really put on a show for the leavers’ evensong, especially with Harris’ Faire is the Heaven as the anthem. This piece divided us into two smaller choirs and featured complex harmonies and multiple key changes – we had worked on it for a couple of weeks and it really came together on the night.

The other pieces were also fantastic (and accompanied by occasional rolls of thunder), with Jerusalem, traditionally sung at the last evensong of the year, bringing a tear to the eye of many of the finalists present. Katie also performed César Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation for Piano and Organ as an introit, with Ryan Bloxsom, a second year who sings bass in the choir – the sound of the music echoing round the chapel and mingling with the torrential rain outside was really something special.

Yesterday’s evensong was the final one for six members of the choir (Alice Ahearn, William Bunce, Alexane Duchenne, Anna Dowell, Ben Pery and Kate Maurer-Song) as well as for Katie herself. This year’s group has not only been lovely to sing with but also incredibly good fun to be around: we’ve done everything from ice-cream socials to ice skating, with the annual ‘choir-aoke’ night out proving especially popular this year. Further antics are anticipated on this year’s tour to Denmark and Sweden, which Katie has compiled an amazing selection of music for.

The friendly and welcoming aspect of our chapel choir is one of its main attractions, and this has largely been down to Katie ensuring that everyone in choir feels accepted and valued. I speak on behalf of choir members past and present when I say she will be sorely missed, and we all wish her all the best for whatever the future holds.

I first came to Wadham in 2003, after moving to Oxford from the USA with my family. My initial appointment was in the Music Faculty as Betts Scholar (later, Fellow) in Organ Studies. Although I already had a DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) degree from the Eastman School of Music, I decided to start a DPhil. When asked at my interview which college I would like to join, I said Queen’s, because my supervisor was there. One of the panel members was Wadham’s emeritus Fellow Reinhard Strohm, the Heather Professor of Music, who said, “Forget Queen’s - Wadham needs you!” So I joined the College as the Brookman organ scholar, and after a few years in that role, continued as the Director of Chapel Music.

When I first started working with the choir, it was a smaller and more informal group. Over the years numbers have increased to the point where there are nearly 30 committed singers who sing repertoire from all corners of the Anglican canon. One constant through this period has been my wonderful colleague, Julian Littlewood, College Organist, who has been at Wadham for longer than I have - over 25 years. It has been wonderful to be able to count on such a fine musician as Julian, and his presence is an important reason why the choir has flourished.

There have been so many!

One memorable moment was the first whole-college musical collaboration, which took place when I had been at Wadham for about five years. The choir and orchestra, comprising students, staff, and Fellows, performed Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass in the Holywell Music Room. The event brought all three common rooms together, with a dinner and special themed dessert provided by the kitchen team. An amazing range of talent was revealed in the College: the soloists, choir, and the entire orchestra were all Wadhamites, and the concert was conducted by an undergraduate student who was reading Classics.

The experience confirmed my suspicion that the College is full of musical people who are delighted to come together occasionally through music. More College-wide events followed, including a performance of the Fauré Requiem in the Holywell Music Room, again with an orchestra and choir made up of Fellows and students. A few years later, we expanded the College-wide ventures into a dramatic production of Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. This was presented all around Wadham, with scenes and acts in different locations, from the Graduate Centre to the gardens to the Chapel.

Another standout moment was in 2010 when the Chapel Choir sang to a full house at St Paul’s Cathedral, to mark the College’s 400th anniversary.

Finally, annual choir tours are always memorable, but the USA tour in 2016 was particularly special, with an extraordinary performance in front of many hundreds of Oxford University alumni at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Each place I have worked throughout my career has been special in its own way, but Wadham has felt particularly like home. As for a favourite piece of music, or a favourite musician to work with - each piece I have played or conducted, and every wonderful musician I have worked with have become my favourites!

People often think that the chapel is only for religious Christians, especially Anglicans. This is most definitely not the case in Wadham. While the choir music is necessarily sacred because the choir sings for services in the chapel, neither the singers nor the congregation have to be religious themselves. The music of the Anglican church - Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons, Vaughan Williams, Britten, and many others - is every bit as great a cultural heritage as the art of Turner and Constable, and singing that music in its “native habitat”, as it were, is powerful and immensely meaningful.

In recent years the scene has begun changing, but most undergraduates at Wadham with an interest in performing music gravitate toward the choir as a centre of music-making in the college. The music and the chapel create a wonderful atmosphere where people can come and sit quietly, soak up the ambience, and shed their stresses and strains. Evensong is an ancient service, and sitting in the candlelit Wadham Chapel listening to or singing beautiful music that has been part of the College for hundreds of years is a wonderful way to connect with the generations that have gone before us, and to the generations that are to come. The community is further strengthened by dining together after Evensong. Everyone is welcome in the chapel.

Wadham does not offer music as a subject at undergraduate level. While the absence of undergraduate music students might be seen initially as a disadvantage, many choir members particularly value the idea of doing something different from their academic studies. Some of the best musicians in the chapel choir have been students reading Classics or Maths or other seemingly unrelated topics. All choir members are there because they want to be, not because they have to be, so the “vibe” in the choir is uncompetitive and friendly but completely committed. We welcome singers from other colleges, including students, staff, and Fellows, and all come together in a diverse group of very fine musicians. The choir prides itself on being very friendly and welcoming, but also in producing very high-quality music for which the singers and the College can rightfully be proud.

Lots of things! Making music with the choir each week is a very special experience and sometimes the music is so wonderful that it is difficult to get to sleep that night. I will also miss the beauty of the chapel, the wonderful organ, and the support that the Warden, Robert Hannigan, the Chaplain, and other College members have given in recent years. One thing that I will not miss however is recruiting new singers at the beginning of each year: about one third of the choir moves on at the end of each Trinity term, and it is always difficult not only to say goodbye to students you’ve worked so intensively with during their time in Oxford, but it’s also difficult to see the group that has bonded so tightly together disband itself. A new choir has to be re-formed every year, and that is hard work.

Overall, it has been an immense privilege and joy being at Wadham, and I will always remember it with huge fondness, gratitude, and awe at having been granted the opportunity.

I much prefer thinking of leaving Wadham as “doing something else” rather than “retiring”, but that Something Else is still forming in my mind. I have some articles to write, and some travelling to do; but other than that I am open to whatever opportunities present themselves.