High Sheriff’s Challenge in full voice at Blenheim this week
Twenty local companies will be taking part in a charity choir this Thursday in support of Oxfordshire Community Foundation and other local charities. The firms are participating in the High Sheriff’s Challenge – an initiative of this year’s High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Tony Stratton. Each company has donated to the Business Cares fund, managed by the OCF, which will benefit Access Sport and Music for Autism as well as the Foundation.
Each Challenger Company has entered a group of four individuals to join musical director John Lubbock at Blenheim Palace on the afternoon of Thursday 4th September. John will work with the group to understand capabilities, agree the pieces that the choir will perform in the evening and then rehearse. The aim is for everyone to experience the joy of communal singing and to feel part of something extraordinary. John will be supported by Derek Paravicini as the accompanist, who is blind and very autistic.
John Lubbock is the founder of The Orchestra of St John’s Smith Square, an ensemble that celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and has conducted in many diverse venues across the world, from the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall to St Mary’s Church, Thame. A singer (he was a member of The Swingle Singers) and a pianist, as well as a conductor, he and wife Christine Cairns founded the Music for Autism charity in 2002.
Each Challenger Company is then invited to dinner in the Orangery at Blenheim. Companies taking part are Bicester Village, Blackwell’s, Booker Group PLC, Bybox Field Support, CPM UK Ltd, Debbie & Andrew’s, Four Pillars Hotels, Grant Thornton UK LLP, Infineum UK Ltd, Lucy & Co, Meech International, Milton Park, Oxford Immunotec Ltd, Quantic Group Ltd, SAE Institute, Sainsbury’s (Banbury), Savills, Scottfraser Limited, Smeg (Uk) Ltd, Unipart Group, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and VSL & Partners. Good luck to you all!