Friday 16 October 2026 The Olivier Hall, St Edward’s School

Eric Whitacre: Eternity in an Hour

Latest Availability: Good availability in unreserved stalls only. Click on ‘Stalls unreserved’ on seating map to book.

Grammy Award winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre presents his newest electro-choral work Eternity in an Hour with Somerville College Choir. Written for voices, cello and an ethereal blanket of electronics, the new piece is an hour-long meditation in sound – how to be truly in the moment through music.

“I have long been transfixed by the opening lines of William Blake’s extraordinary poem ‘Auguries of Innocence’. It seemed to me that Blake had simply and perfectly described presence, that elusive state where past and future cease to exist and all that remains is a profound sense of wonder in even the most ordinary objects. My hope with Eternity in an Hour is that the music will help the listener (and the performers and, candidly, me) experience a little bit of that awe and timelessness.”

Eric Whitacre

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
from ‘Auguries of Innocence’ by William Blake (1757–1827)

£50 Premium Seats include an exclusive post-concert drinks reception with Eric Whitacre. Concessionary discounts are not available on Premium Seats.

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Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre, is among today’s most popular and celebrated musicians. Born in Nevada, he is a graduate of The Juilliard School, New York. His works are performed worldwide, and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united hundreds of thousands of singers around the world. Eric’s long-term relationship with Universal Music – Decca Classics – has produced several no.1 albums which have enduring success.

A highly respected conductor, Eric has worked with the world’s leading orchestras and choirs on stages such as the Royal Albert Hall in London, Sydney’s Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. In the coming season, appearances include performances at London’s Southbank Centre and with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Eric’s collaboration with Spitfire Audio resulted in two volumes of a trail-blazing vocal sample library which became an instant best-seller and is used by composers the world-over.

A charismatic speaker, Eric Whitacre has given keynote addresses for many Fortune 500 companies, in education and global institutions from Apple and Google to the World Economic Forum in Davos and the United Nations Speaker’s Program. His mainstage talks at the influential TED conference in Long Beach CA received standing ovations.

Somerville College and Music at Oxford gratefully acknowledge the support of Helen Morton, who has generously supported Eric Whitacre’s position as Musician in Residence at Somerville College, 2026-2027.

Programme

Eternity in an Hour

Performers

Eric Whitacre

conductor/electronics

Laura van der Heijden

cello

Somerville College Choir

Soprano: Zeena Abdalla, Martha Baker, Annabel Baxter, Claire Cockcroft*, Evelyn Cook, Chloe Defriez, Ava Goddard, Helen Matthews**, Clara Price 4, Ellie Rothman, Caitlin Ryan, Rue Tealby-Watson, Rosie Thorogood** Alto: Ottilie Brazier-Pethick, Stephanie Garrett**, Rosa Johnson, Charlotte Lundberg, Isabelle O'Callaghan, Stephanie Ou 1, Holly Palmer, Disha Shetty, Myles Wilkinson 4, Nico Zeng Tenor: Ararat Ameen, Max Fisher-Ayres, Quinton Lee**, Franco Lopez**, Sacha Meadowcroft**, Matthew Rogers*, Oscar Smith, Alex Somerville Bass: Josh Bream 5, Benjamin Carter 5, Isaac Chan, Patrick Davison, Will Dawes 2, Isaac Dutson, Henry Hart, Charlie Ripley, Benjamin Thompson* 3, Vinzent Wesselmann*

1 Organ Scholar; 2 Director of Chapel Music; 3 Vice Principal; 4 Chloe & Helen Morton Choral Scholar; 5 John M Cockcroft Choral Scholar; *Guest singer; **Choir alumni