The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, is a mixed-voice choir whose primary function is to lead services in the chapel of

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Since its founding in 1972, the choir has gained an international reputation as one of the leading university choral groups in the world.

History

The first chapel choir was formed in 1866. For the next one hundred years the choir consisted of undergraduate lower voices and a treble line provided by boys from city schools. In 1966, the use of boys was discontinued and for a brief period there was no upper line. The current mixed-voice choir was established in 1972 by Peter Dennison, a music fellow of the college. He was succeeded by the college's first director of music,

John Rutter John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...

. Rutter left in 1979 to focus on composing but retains a close connection with the college as an honorary fellow. Timothy Brown directed the choir for 31 years until he was succeeded by the choir's current director of music, Graham Ross.

Directors of Music

Since 1975 the choir has been conducted by the director of music, a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the college. * 1972–1975: Peter Dennison * 1975–1979:

* 1979–2010: Timothy Brown * 2010–present: Graham Ross

Membership of the choir

The choir normally consists of between 25 and 30 singers, most of whom are undergraduates at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

. In addition to the

choral scholar A choral scholar is a student either at a university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir. This is a common practice in the UK at schools attached to cathedrals where the choir is ...

s, who are obliged to remain in the choir throughout their undergraduate studies, the choir includes some volunteer members who are often studying at other colleges as well as a

lay clerk A lay clerk, also known as a lay vicar, song man or a vicar choral, is a professional adult singer in an Anglican cathedral and often Roman Catholic Cathedrals in the UK, or (occasionally) collegiate choir in Britain and Ireland. The vicars chora ...

and a choir administrator.

Organ scholars

The organ is played by two

organ scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...

s, who, like the choral scholars, are students (typically undergraduates) at the college. An organ scholarship is awarded as necessary to ensure that there are always two undergraduate organists in the college—a new scholar is appointed to arrive when the previous one graduates. If the director of music is not present for any reason, an organ scholar takes responsibility for conducting the choir. * 1969 —

Stephen Banfield Stephen David Banfield (born 1951) is a musicologist, music historian and retired academic. He was Elgar Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham from 1992 to 2003, and then Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Br ...

* 1976 —

Ivor Bolton Ivor Bolton Ivor Bolton (born 17 May 1958) is an English conductor and harpsichordist. Early life and education Bolton was born in Blackrod, Greater Manchester, England. He studied at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Clare Co ...

* 1979 — Edward (Dafydd) Hughes * 1980 — David Dunnett * 1982 —

Richard Egarr Richard Egarr (born 7 August 1963) is a British conductor and keyboard player. Biography Born in Lincoln, Egarr received his early musical training as a choirboy at York Minster and at Chetham's School of Music. He was an organ scholar at Clar ...

* 1984 — Stephen Farr * 1988 — Dominic Wheeler * 1990 — Peter Clements * 1993 — Jonathan Brown * 1995 — James Grossmith * 1996 — Andrew Henderson * 1998 — John Reid * 2000 — Nicholas Rimmer * 2001 —

Nicholas Collon Nicholas Collon (born 7 February 1983 in London) is a British conductor. Biography A viola player, organist and pianist by training, Collon played viola in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB). He studied at Eton and was an org ...

* 2003 — James McVinnie * 2004 — Tim Harper * 2006 — Simon Thomas Jacobs * 2007 — Ashok Gupta * 2009 — Nicolas Haigh * 2010 — Peter Harrison * 2012 —

Matthew Jorysz Matthew Jorysz (born 22 December 1992) is an English organist and pianist. He is Assistant Organist at Westminster Abbey. Jorysz was organ scholar at Salisbury Cathedral from 2011 to 2012 before reading music at Clare College, Cambridge, where ...

* 2014 — Anthony Daly * 2015 — Michael Papadopoulos (assistant organist) * 2016 — Eleanor Carter * 2016 — Nicholas Morris (assistant organist) * 2017 — Ashley Chow * 2019 — George Gillow * 2020 — Samuel Jones

Services

During the

full term, the choir sings

choral evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which beca ...

in the Clare College Chapel three times a week: * 6:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays * 6:00 p.m. on Sundays, preceded with a recital at 5:25 p.m. Additionally, the choir sings choral compline several times a term along with extra services such as Advent Carol services, All Souls and Ash Wednesday Vigils, weddings, funerals and memorial services. Since 2015, the choir has a webcast of recorded services released on the choir website. Since 2020, the choir also live-streams choral services on their YouTube channel.

Performing activities

Apart from sacred music sung mostly in choral evensong services, the choir also performs a wide range of music, including works by

Toby Hession Toby Hession (born 6 February 1997) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Early life and studies Hession was born in Peterborough. Between 2010 and 2015 he attended Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, studying piano with Masayuki ...

, Graham Ross,

Sir John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), '' The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and ''Song ...

Jonathan Dove Jonathan Dove (born 18 July 1959) is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birmin ...

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

Tarik O'Regan Tarik Hamilton O'Regan (; born 1 January 1978) is a British and American composer. His compositions number over 100 and are partially represented on 43 recordings which have been recognised with two Grammy nominations. He is also the recipien ...

Giles Swayne Giles Oliver Cairnes Swayne (born Hertfordshire, 30 June 1946) is a British composer. Biography Swayne spent much of his childhood in Liverpool, and began composing at a young age. He was educated at Ampleforth College and at Cambridge Unive ...

(the college's former

composer in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

) and

James Whitbourn James Whitbourn (born 1963) is a British composer and conductor. Biography James Whitbourn was born in Kent and educated at Skinners' School before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained his first two degrees. Hi ...

. The choir also performs with instrumental groups such as the

European Union Baroque Orchestra The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) is a training initiative which allows young performers of baroque music from the European Union to gain orchestral experience as part of their career development. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between ...

and the Dmitri Ensemble. In January 2016 it gave the world première of ''Green Mass'', composed by

Alexander Raskatov Alexander Mikhailovich Raskatov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Раска́тов; born 9 March 1953, in Moscow) is a Russian composer. Life Alexander Raskatovs father was a leading journalist of the magazine ''Krokodil'', h ...

, in the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

along with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

conducted by

Vladimir Jurowski Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski (; born 4 April 1972) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Michail Jurowski, and grandson of Soviet film music composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski. Early life Born in Moscow, Jurowski began hi ...

; and in March 2018, the world première of ''Clare Canticles'', composed by

. The choir also performed in the Malaysian première of Fauré's Requiem in 2016 with the

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO; ms, Orkestra Filharmonik Malaysia) is a Malaysian orchestra based in Kuala Lumpur. The orchestra is resident at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall (Dewan Filharmonik Petronas). It is one of Asia's leading ...

. Being the

Choir & Organ Rhinegold Publishing is an independent publisher of music magazines, music yearbooks and education resources, founded in 1977. Among Rhinegold's publications are '' Choir & Organ'' and ''Classical Music Magazine ''Classical Music'' is a tra ...

magazine's 2020 New Music partners, the choir will première six new commissions throughout the 2020 calendar year.

Tours

The choir maintains a strong recording and touring schedule. In recent years, the choir has toured throughout Europe, the US, the Middle East, Australia and Asia, usually between university terms. The choir also regularly performs in the United Kingdom, giving concerts in the major London concert halls, as well as at numerous festivals around the country. Previous tours have included: * 2005 — Europe (Greece, France, Spain, Italy, Germany) * 2006 — Germany and Austria * 2008 — France * 2009 — Germany * 2009 — US * 2009 — Israel * 2010 — US * 2011 — France * 2011 — Netherlands * 2012 — Australia * 2013 — US * 2014 — Malta * 2014 — US * 2014 — Netherlands * 2015 — US * 2016 — Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore * 2016 — France * 2016 — Netherlands * 2017 — Switzerland * 2017 — US * 2018 — Rome * 2018 — France and Malta * 2019 — Canada, US and Mexico * 2019 — Spain * 2019 — Macau, Hong Kong and Shanghai * 2019 — Netherlands

Discography

The choir has recorded extensively, now exclusively for the Harmonia Mundi USA label. Releases on this label include ''Reformation 1517–2017'', ''Pange lingua: Music for Corpus Christi'' and ''Mater ora filium: Music for Epiphany''. Since 2010, the choir has recorded 13 CDs, including a series of 8 CDs for seasons of the Christian calendar with Harmonia Mundi USA: * 2012 — ''Imogen Holst Choral Works'' (HMU907576) * 2013 — ''Veni Emmanuel: Music for Advent'' (HMU907579) * 2014 — ''Lux de caelo: Music for Christmas'' (HMU907615) * 2014 — ''Stabat Mater dolorosa: Music for Passiontide'' (HMU907616) * 2015 — ''Requiem: Music for All Saints and All Souls'' (HMU907617) * 2015 — ''Ascendit Deus: Music for Ascensiontide & Pentecost'' (HMU907623) * 2016 — ''Mater ora filium: Music for Epiphany'' (HMU907653) * 2016 — ''Remembrance'' (HMU907654) * 2016 — ''Haec Dies: Music for Easter'' (HMU907655) * 2017 — ''Pange lingua: Music for Corpus Christi'' (HMM907688) * 2017 — ''Reformation 1517–2017'' (HMM902265) * 2020 — ''Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater'' (HMM905323) * 2020 — ''Britten: A Ceremony of Carols'' (HMM905329) Some previous recordings include: * 1979 — ''The Holly and the Ivy'' (CD re-release 1989, Decca, 425 500-2) * 1994 — ''Hodie: Carols from Cambridge'' (Gamut Classics, GAMCD543) * 1995 — ''Miserere'' (Columns Classics, 290239) * 1996 — ''A Cello Christmas'' (Cala Records, CACD55003) * 1999 — ''Illumina'' (

Collegium Records Collegium Records is an English classical music record label founded in 1984 by British composer and conductor John Rutter, primarily to record his work with the Cambridge Singers.Gramophone - Volume 69 Page 11 1992 "The success of Rutter's own ...

, COLCD125), conducted by Tim Brown and recorded in the Lady Chapel of

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...

* 2000 — ''Blessed Spirit: Music of the Soul's Journey'' (

, COLCD 127) * 2005 — ''Light of the Spirit'' (Collegium Records, CSACD 902) * 2006 — ''Tarik O’Regan: Voices'' (Collegium Records, COLCD 130)

Notable Clare alumni

* Michael Brimer (musician) *

William Denis Browne William Charles Denis Browne (3 November 1888 – 4 June 1915), primarily known as Billy to family and as Denis to his friends, was a British composer, pianist, organist and music critic of the early 20th century. He and his close friend, poet Ru ...

* Stephen Farr *

Patrick Gowers William Patrick Gowers (5 May 1936 – 30 December 2014) was an English composer, mainly known for his film scores. Early life and education Born in Islington, Gowers was the son of Stella Gowers (née Pelly) and Richard Gowers, a solicitor. Hi ...

Martin How Martin John Richard How (3 April 1931 – 25 July 2022) was a British composer and organist. Early life and education How was born in Liverpool on 3 April 1931, to the Rev. John How, who at the time was Rector of St. Nicholas Church, and Ju ...

* John Kitchen *

Andrew Manze Andrew Manze (born 14 January 1965) is a British conductor and violinist living in Germany. Born in Beckenham, United Kingdom, Manze read Classics at Cambridge University. Manze studied violin and worked with Ton Koopman (his director in th ...

* James McVinnie *

Sir Roger Norrington Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington (born 16 March 1934) is an English conductor. He is known for historically informed performances of Baroque, Classical and Romantic music. In November 2021 Norrington announced his retirement. Life No ...

* Graham Ross *

Richard Stilgoe Sir Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe (born 28 March 1943) is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician, and broadcaster who is best known for his humorous songs and frequent television appearances. His output includes collaborations with Andrew ...

Elin Manahan Thomas Elin Manahan Thomas (born 1977) is a Welsh soprano. A specialist in Baroque music, she sang at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018. Biography Thomas was born in Gorseinon near Swansea, Wales, the daughter of M. Wynn Thomas ...

Robin Ticciati Robin Ticciati (born 16 April 1983, in London) is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. Biography Ticciati's paternal grandfather, Niso Ticciati, was a composer, arranger, cellist, and keyboardist. His father is a barrister, and his mother ...

References

External links

Official website

YouTube channel
{{authority control 1866 establishments in England Cambridge choirs Clare College, Cambridge Musical groups established in 1866 University choirs