Voices of Thunder features a range of spectacular choral pieces that showcase Magdalen College Chapel’s new Eule organ.

Following on from Peace I leave with you, this new album combines the sublime voices of The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, with the new and exciting sonorities of the Eule organ. The recording includes music from Joseph Haydn to Judith Weir, as well as Arvo Pärt’s atmospheric Beatitudes, Libby Larsen’s playful I will sing and raise a psalm, and Hubert Parry’s thunderous Blest Pair of Sirens.

The Eule organ was built by Herman Eule Orgelbau of Bautzen in Germany and is the first Eule organ of its kind to have been built in the UK for almost 100 years.

The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford was founded in 1480, as one of the largest choral foundations in late-medieval England, and this historic legacy has been preserved and maintained over five centuries. The Choir, which now enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest ensembles in the UK, exists primarily to sing the daily church services in Magdalen College Chapel. They also sing at a number of special occasions throughout the year, including the famous May Day celebrations, an ancient tradition dating back to the 16th century. The boy choristers are educated at Magdalen College School, and the Academical Clerks are ordinarily undergraduate members of the College, studying a range of subjects. Famous directors of the Choir who have held the ancient title, Informator Choristarum still in use today, include John Sheppard, Daniel Purcell, Sir John Stainer, Sir William McKie and Dr Bernard Rose.

Magdalen College Choir has toured Spain, Poland, the USA, Belgium and France in the last few years; concert appearances have included the BBC Proms and Cadogan Hall. The Choir has worked with a number of leading orchestras including the Britten Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In Oxford, they have collaborated with both composers and musicians to record discs under the Royal Opera House ‘Opus Arte’ label: recordings have included the music of John Ward and Thomas Tomkins with the celebrated viol group, Phantasm, and the work of the renowned composer of sacred music, Matthew Martin. They have won a Gramophone award, and have collaborated with the film composer George Fenton, most notably in Richard Attenborough’s movie, Shadowlands, with the Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney, and on the award-winning soundtrack for the BBC TV series, Blue Planet.

Mark Williams has been Informator Choristarum, Organist and Tutorial Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he directs the choir in daily services, continuing a tradition established in the 15th century, and teaches for the University’s Faculty of Music, since January 2017. He was responsible for introducing to the Choir the first female Academical Clerks in the College’s history and, for five years, he oversaw a project to replace the Chapel’s organ with a new four-manual instrument by Hermann Eule Orgelbau of Bautzen, Germany, which was unveiled to wide acclaim in January 2023.

Mark Williams studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was for six years Assistant Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral and Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral School. Between 2009 and 2016, he held the post of Director of Music, College Lecturer and Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has appeared as organist, harpsichordist and conductor internationally and on disc with many of the UK’s leading ensembles, including Britten Sinfonia, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Choir, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cambridge Singers, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The King’s Consort, The Sixteen, Arcangelo, and the Gabrieli Consort and Players. He appears on over 40 albums and a number of soundtracks, and has appeared as a broadcaster on the BBC and as a recitalist, conductor, visiting speaker and lecturer in the UK, USA, India, China, South Africa, Zambia and several European countries. He is the Artistic Director of the William Byrd Festival which takes place annually in Portland, Oregon, USA, and a trustee of a number of charities focused on musical education both in the UK and abroad. He has worked with pop groups, crossover artists and appeared on major Hollywood film scores, and he has acted as musical consultant for various television programmes, including the ITV crime drama, Endeavour.