Winchester College Chapel Choir, Onyx Brass, Benjamin Cunningham & Howard Ionascu
Biography Winchester College Chapel Choir, Onyx Brass, Benjamin Cunningham & Howard Ionascu
Howard Ionascu
As Director of Chapel Music, I am both schoolmaster and choirmaster in equal measure. I have daily interaction with boys from the age of 8 through to 18, the younger boys being the Quiristers who are educated at The Pilgrims’ School close by. Together, we prepare four weekly services alongside a number of extra engagements such as special services, concerts, tours, recordings and broadcasts. Most of our singing takes place within the glorious surroundings of the Winchester College Chapel, which we are privileged to call our home.
I have come to Winchester through a variety of roles, including Director of Music at a boarding school, a cathedral lay clerk and, most recently, directing the Junior Royal Academy of Music. All of these experiences have finally been drawn together in one place and one job, which I find incredibly fulfilling.
Winchester College Chapel Choir
In 1382, William of Wykeham, Chancellor of England and Bishop of Winchester, founded Winchester College alongside his other establishment at New College, Oxford. The original foundation included 70 scholars and 16 boys called Quiristers whose duty was to sing in the Chapel. There are still 16 Quiristers today, upholding an unbroken tradition of over 600 years. They have been educated at The Pilgrims' School since 1966.
The Quiristers are led by Howard Ionascu, former Director of the Junior Royal Academy of Music. They are joined by senior College boys and members of staff to form the Winchester College Chapel Choir, and follow a routine of daily practices and choral services in the College Chapel during term time.
The Quiristers themselves are well known as a boys’ concert choir. They perform a wide repertoire of secular music, usually from memory. This gives their work an enviable variety and marks the Quiristers out from other groups of choristers.
Onyx Brass
is one of the rare breed of chamber ensembles whose musical and technical virtuosity is matched by the accessibility and vitality of their presentation. Their mission is to have their extraordinary abilities at the disposal of the music at all times, and to play music of the requisite quality to reflect the status of the brass quintet as a serious medium for chamber music. The richness and warmth of their sound is remarked upon by all who hear them.
