Ralph Allwood: Rodolfus Choir

The Rodolfus Choir

The Rodolfus Choir is made up of singers aged 25 and younger who have been chosen from past and present members of the Eton College Choral Courses for prospective choral scholars. Each year these six week-long summer courses attract some 350 students between the ages of 16 and 20, and of these perhaps a dozen are invited to join the Rodolfus Choir as places become vacant. Many of these singers are choral scholars, some are at music college, and most hope to make a career in music.

The choir outside Eton College Music School

Since its foundation in 1983 the choir has toured in France, Italy, and Austria, and has appeared at many English festivals including two appearances at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester. It has also performed throughout the United Kingdom at venues great and small, including St. John's, Smith Square, where the choir has performed the Bach B-minor Mass with The Hanover Band and later with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, broadcast on Classic FM. This year the choir has been more active than ever, singing in three festivals this year (BBC Proms, Snape Proms and the York Early Music Festival), making two CDs (one for Naxos and one for Signum) and recording Songs of Praise, as well as performing the usual series of concerts. The choir is well-known for its imaginative programmes, and for its presentation of new music. Its recent CD recordings include music as diverse as Bax, Grier, Tallis and German Romantic motets. All have attracted extremely complimentary press notices, with tracks broadcast by Brian Kay on his Sunday morning programme and also many on Classic FM and BBC Radio 3.

The choir's future engagements include concerts with the Southbank Sinfonia and the Orchestra of Opera North.

"The sound of the Rodolfus Choir is like that of no other UK chamber choir that I can think of. It is fresh, because all the members are under 25. It is wonderfully blended. It is fantastically in tune and very expressive, with a wide range of dynamics, sensitively employed. What does that leave out? Oh yes, balance - and that too is superb. And it has a quite extraordinary flexibility."
Clare Stevens in The Singer.

'I thought that the choir's performance in Charleston during the summer was one of the best choral concerts I have ever attended'.
Trevor Weston, Ph. D, Assistant Professor of Music, College of Charleston

'Deeply moving and richly satisfying interpretations … delighted the audience with imaginative programming and set the highest standards in unaccompanied choral performance … Ralph Allwood, economical of gesture but in total control of every nuance, balance and dynamics' …
Eastern Daily Press, Norwich

'The finest young singers in Britain, all products of the elite Eton Choral Course, and conducted by its founder Ralph Allwood . . . They are set apart by the force of their expression, power and subtlety … impeccable credentials.'
The Church Times

"Unspeakably beautiful … a truly memorable performance. The Rodolfus Choir rise above the technical challenges to convey a sense of radiance and elation that is indelibly memorable … marvellous. Exemplary in every respect.' …
Gramophone

'Outstanding by any standards'
BBC Music Magazine

'One could not wish for better performances. Anyone looking for the Songs of Farewell at their very, very best need look no further. A wondrous presentation of unique music.'
Choir and Organ