Vocatio:Responsio's first tour!

In March 2026, Vocatio:Responsio spent time in Liverpool, the home city of our artistic director Samuel Oliver-Sherry, in our very first tour. Our main focus will be delivering a benefit concert at St Michaels Church in Blundellsands, helping their Renovation Fund project.

This was a very exciting opportunity enjoyed by all of our musicians, and Samuel was especially thrilled to introduce the group to his local community!

Musical Programme

The main piece of this programme was Alessandro Scarlatti's "St John's Passion", preceded by a short orchestral showpiece by Giovanni Battista Sammartini. The first UK performance of Scarlatti's passion, possibly the first eighteenth-century setting of John's gospel, was in Liverpool in 2019, which a fifteen-year-old Samuel was a part of, which was a large motivation for him to return to it for this concert series.

Monday 23rd March 2026:
Concert in Oxford (St Matthews Church, 8pm)

Before travelling just shy of 200 miles up north to Liverpool, we performed the programme in Vocatio:Responsio’s resident city of Oxford, This allowed us not only to show our following what we have been working on, but also to raise awareness of the cause in St Michael’s to our audience.

Tuesday 24th March 2026:
Outreach workshop with St Michael’s Church of England Academy

When we arrived in Liverpool, we were instantly thrown in to an action-packed afternoon spent delivering some outreach with 30 students aged 11-16 from St Michael's Church of England Academy. Samuel spent seven years as a student in St Michaels (2016-23).

We were overjoyed by the enthusiasm and determination of the students as they engaged so thoroughly with our work! One of the highlights was how many questions they had after the session, and how natural the conversation was between the students and our musicians. 

Wednesday 25th March 2026:
Concert in Blundellsands, Crosby (St Michaels Church, 7pm)

To round off our tour, we performed our concert in St Michaels Church, with 100% of the ticket income supporting the church in its efforts to raise enough money to restore the church building from serious damages, particularly to its roof but also some of its interior. In the end, we raised £850 for the Renovation Fund.

Samuel has known the community of this church throughout his time at high school, and became a more regular staple in church life during his final year at school as he was appointed one of the regular organists of the church, accompanying the congregation in hymns (invariably getting the notes right).

YouTube Trailer

Hear more about our tour by watching this promotional video, using footage from our December 2025 fundraiser, which explores our musical director's connection both to the location as well as the pieces we performed!

Concert Uploads

All of the pieces from the concert were eventually uploaded to our YouTube channel, including a lovely premiere event of the Scarlatti for people to communally rewatch together in September 2026!

Here you can enjoy high quality performances of the virtuosic Sammartini Overture from the concert in Oxford, and the emotionally charged Scarlatti St John's Passion that concluded our tour in Liverpool.

Testimonial

Enjoy a short, very kind statement from Brian Dunning, the churchwarden and chair of the Parish Committee of St Michael's Church Blundellsands, about Vocatio:Responsio's concert in Liverpool and the work they have done to help St Michael's Church in their fundraising.