Music
The City Church of St. Michael at the North Gate occupies a unique place in the history and life of the City of Oxford. Its roots extend back to Saxon times, and through its history it retains a unique association with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Church music of the highest quality has also been an integral part of the worship of the City church for centuries: a tradition which continues to
this day. Music enhances the life and worship of St. Michael’s in many and varied ways. This is largely through the music offered by our professional musicians, but also through the involvement of a wider group of performers as well as the enthusiastic participation of the church congregation.
Choral music
Evening concerts
Music on Mondays
The Choir
First and foremost, the professional Church Choir of St. Michael’s at the North Gate (comprising Choral Scholars and Lay Clerks) sings the standard Anglican cathedral repertoire at most Sunday morning services. The services are generally either Choral Mattins (where St Michael’s is one of the only choral foundations in Oxford still to sing this glorious service), or Holy Communion.
A PDF of the current Music list for the City Church can be found here
Except for the mornings of the first Sunday of the month and during August, the Church Choir sings throughout the year, including for special seasonal services such as the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas.
These services are generally streamed live on YouTube, and can be found here on our website.
Our choir at St Michael’s is one of long-standing, with roots in the traditional all-male choir (see history here). While times have changed, our choir still flourishes as a wonderful mixed ensemble, supporting the worship of the church through the performance of high-quality music from the core Anglican repertoire.
On the first Sunday of each month, there is a service of Choral Evensong with Cantor at 3.00pm. Here, the beautiful service of Choral Evensong is rendered by a solo voice accompanied by organ. The professional soloist is generally one of the members of the Church Choir (see above). The Cantors sing also for some of the main Sunday services in August, while the Church choir is on holiday.
St. Michael’s also has a thriving volunteer choir (The North Gate Voices) who sing at the services on the first Sundays of the month, and on other sundry occasions. This choir is drawn from students, academics, and city folk, who are interested in singing excellent music in a church environment.
Singers interested in auditioning for the Church Choir and/or singing as Cantor, as well as any aspiring singers who want to become involved in our relaxed but purposeful North Gate Voices Choir should contact the Director of Music, Richard Pantcheff, on richardpantcheff@hotmail.com.
The Willis Organ
The current organ dates from 1954 when Henry Willis III installed a two-manual instrument in the north transept.
The original console stood in front of the case and faced
south. In 1989-90, Henry Willis IV overhauled and
enlarged the instrument. A new Positif division was added, which is flanked by the horizontal pipes of the Trompette.
At all our services, the organ is played by our Organist (who
is frequently an organ scholar at one of the major college foundations of Oxford University).
Music on Mondays
The City Church frequently hosts concerts and recitals at various times in the year. Each year there are several seasons of the ever-popular Music on Monday concert series. In 2025, we will host three seasonal series of Lunchtime Concerts, all with varied secular music. All concerts will be at 1.00pm on a Monday, with a retiring collection split 70/30 between the musicians’ chosen charity and St Michael’s (to enable us to continue to run the series).
Do join us in person (concerts are also sometimes available online via our YouTube channel). Our YouTube channel is here
For enquiries regarding performing, please email: mom@smng.org.uk. To join our email list, click here.
Music on Monday Autumn series, will resume on Monday 22nd September 2025.
St Michael’s also presents a number of one-off Evening Concerts each year, featuring professional visiting and Oxford-based musicians. Details
of this are provided on the Church’s website, and on posters around the church.
We are also very glad to welcome visiting choirs, who enjoy singing services or concerts in the unique and historical environment of St Michael’s. Please contact the Direector of Music, Richard Pantcheff, if you would like to come and perform at St. Michael’s.
All of the above contributes to the living tradition of music as integral to the life and worship of the City Church.
The Director of Music, Richard Pantcheff is a Composer and Conductor with an outstanding international reputation. He can be contacted on richardpantcheff@hotmail.com, and his personal website is www.richardpantcheff.com.
Forthcoming concerts
Credit to Photography by Kiki, Studio Verse92 for many beautiful photographs used on this page.