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Anniversary, Celebrating 100 Years of Oxford University Press Music

logoThis year, Oxford University Press (OUP) is celebrating a very important anniversary; one hundred years ago, their first pieces of music were published. Since then, their music department has grown, and today they pride themselves on being one of the world’s leading music publishers. From the very beginning, they embraced publishing choral music, large-scale concert works, and music education materials.

Throughout the one hundred years, they have celebrated many milestones including publishing the works of world-renowned composers, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton, and providing music for the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth II. The hugely successful Carols for Choirs series has become the essential resource for Christmas choral music in both concerts and churches. It was through this series that John Rutter – one of the UK's most popular composers – began working with them. OUP has continued this tradition of working with successful contemporary composers, publishing works by Sarah Quartel, Cecilia McDowall, Mack Wilberg, Marques Garrett, and Reena Esmail: composers who have all received substantial success and acclaim.

Their educational output is also impressive. The Piano Time and String Time books are among the most popular series for instrumental teaching, supporting the next generation of learners as they begin their musical journeys.

To mark the centenary and to demonstrate their increasingly diverse catalogue, OUP have begun publishing a series of centenary publications, including the recently published The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers and Carols for Choirs 6. All of the releases have been specially chosen to showcase the quality and breadth of the OUP catalogue. You can find all available Centenary titles below.

You can also browse the entire OUP catalogue here

Centenary Publications

A substantial setting of the canticles of Mary and Simeon, suitable for performance in both concert and liturgical settings. Notably, the choir is accompanied by both piano and organ, a combination that reflects the tradition of the Black American church in which the composer grew up, where both instruments were used simultaneously for almost all service music. Bringing a fresh voice to an established genre, this setting presents a rewarding challenge for singers and the opportunity for congregations or audiences to appreciate familiar words in a new way.

Available Format: Sheet Music

Edited and compiled by Marques L.A. Garrett, The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers is a landmark collection of non-idiomatic compositions from the sixteenth century to the present day, providing a comprehensive introduction to an area of choral music that has been historically under-represented. This unique anthology seeks both to improve representation in the historical canon and to showcase the music of some of the best names in choral music today.

Available Format: Sheet Music

Jonathan Wikeley's choral arrangement of Vaughan Williams's Four Last Songs offers a new way to engage with these beautiful late works. The texts are by Ursula Vaughan Williams, and the set begins and ends with two poems that were inspired by Greek mythology.

Available Format: Sheet Music

Fiddle Time Duets is an exciting and attractive collection for violinists of all ages by the award-winning educational composers Kathy and David Blackwell. With repertoire ranging from imaginative original compositions to arrangements of classical and folk music, there is something for everyone in this varied selection.

Available Format: Sheet Music

For countless singers and listeners, the carols of John Rutter form the quintessential repertoire of any Christmas concert or service. Full of joy and tenderness, they illuminate and celebrate the Christmas story in works of great imagination and variety. This selection includes eight of Rutter's most popular carols in German translation, together with a full list of orchestral accompaniments available on hire and sale.

Available Format: Sheet Music

Garden of Dreams sets of fragments of text by Sappho, translated by Arthur Sanders Way and A. S. Kline. Sarah Quartel has used cross-rhythms, syncopation, and flowing melodic lines to create a sense of restless longing that reflects the sentiment of the text: that we all nurture a garden of dreams while we sleep.

Available Format: Sheet Music

SATB Choir and Piano

Compiled and edited by Bob Chilcott and David Hill, This volume of fifty contemporary carols encompasses both newly commissioned original compositions and fresh arrangements of well-loved seasonal melodies. The collection showcases some of today's most exciting names in choral composition, bringing the iconic Carols for Choirs series right up to date and providing choirs with a rich resource of diverse and compelling music to sing from Advent to Epiphany.

Available Format: Sheet Music

This new collection presents a comprehensive survey of organ pieces by women composers from 19th century through to the present day. Featuring a rich variety of musical styles and genres, the anthology includes an exciting blend of repertoire by well-established composers, as well as new compositional voices from the UK, US, and Europe. An ideal resource for organists from students to recitalists.

Available Format: Sheet Music