Introducing the Choir

The Choir's raison d'etre is, as it has always been, to sing services in the College Chapel. Choral Evensong is sung on Thursday and Sunday Evenings during Full Term, and Choral Eucharist services take place on a less frequent basis. More generally, the Choir makes an important contribution to the life of the College, singing at feasts, weddings, memorial services and other occasions.

Today, as one of Cambridge's finest mixed-voice ensembles, the group also pursues an exciting range of activities outside College, performing concerts in Cambridge and around the UK, recording CDs, broadcasting, and undertaking a major international tour each Summer.

The 28 members are selected by audition either before or after coming up to Cambridge, and each is expected to be of a very high musical standard. Most hold Choral Exhibitions, and all benefit from regular vocal training with select London singers.

History and Tradition
Christ's College continues the age-old Cambridge tradition of maintaining a Choir to sing services in Chapel.

Music has played an important role at Christ's since the earliest days of its 500-year history. Lady Margaret Beaufort, the Foundress, left the College a bequest of three organs on her death in 1509. The Chapel Choir was originally made up solely of male voices, the upper parts being sung by boy trebles. As the university gradually became mixed, the Choir admitted women from other colleges to sing the upper voices. Christ's College became mixed in 1979. Since then, the choral sound has developed through "the quality of the female undergraduates who bring precision, sensitivity, and increasingly mature musicianship to the upper lines" (Church Times, 30/10/98).

Today's Choir is widely recognized as one of Cambridge's finest mixed-voice ensembles. Recent CD recordings and concert reviews stand as testament to its ability and broad repertoire. Free sample tracks are available online.

Repertoire
The Choir's repertoire embraces sacred and secular music from the 15th century to the present.

At Choral Evensong services, which take place twice per week during Full Term, the Choir sings a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from the Cathedral repertoire, alongside the responses and a psalm. Mass settings in Latin or English are sung at less frequent Choral Eucharist services. At both services an anthem of up to about 5 minutes is sung. The Choir is keen to support composers from within College and beyond, and frequently premiers new works. The Vincent Lam Prize is awarded annually for a new composition written for performance in Chapel.

The choir has an broad concert repertoire. Recent programmes have included such works as Bach's Mass in B minor and the cantata Wachet Auf, Handel's Messiah, Vivaldi's Gloria and Handel's Dixit Dominus (each with baroque orchestra), the Bach and Brahms motets, Mozart and Kodaly, extended works by Howells, Britten, Faure and Parry, and a selection of secular music.