Oxford Camerata gave its first concert at the Maison Française in Oxford on 22 May 1984. The core group comprises twelve singers with or without keyboard accompaniment, but for certain projects the choir has been made up of as few as four singers and as many as forty. After a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the Snape Maltings on Good Friday 1986, Sir Peter Pears, who was at the performance, agreed to become the Oxford Camerata’s first patron. While Oxford Camerata was initially recognised as a specifically early music group, since the early 1990s the choir has expanded its repertory to include music from Gregorian chant to the present day. The Oxford Camerata Instrumental Ensemble (using modern instruments) was formed in 1992 and the Oxford Camerata Baroque Orchestra in 2007.
