King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It was created by Henry VI of England, King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Chapel, ...

Foundation and role in college

The choir was founded in October 1997 under the direction of Dr John Butt, then Director of Studies of Music at the College. The primary aim of the choir was to give female students to opportunity to sing in the chapel, and it renders female King's students able to audition for choral awards. This is not, however, a requirement to sing in the choir, and most members are volunteers (i.e. they do not hold an award). The choir is also open to singers from other colleges, as well as staff and fellows from within the college. The majority of the choir are King's students (both undergraduate and postgraduate), however. The choir sings

evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

on Mondays in the University term. In addition to this, other services such as

compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wor ...

are occasionally sung by King's Voices. The choir also performs a mix of sacred and secular music elsewhere in the college throughout the year, in King's College Music Society (KCMS) concerts, as well as at other college events such as dinners. Outside of King's, the choir also participates in concerts and services in and around Cambridge and East Anglia such as Great St Mary's Church and

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 67 ...

, as well as in other locations such as

St. George's Chapel, Windsor St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar (a church und ...

, and

St Mary Magdalene, Richmond St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark, is a Grade II* listed parish church on Paradise Road, Richmond, London. The church, dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, was built in the early 16th century but has be ...

(this occasion being a concert for International Women's Day). The choir also tours once a year, around Easter time, giving concert and radio performances. Until 2022, the director was Ben Parry, a former choral scholar, and Assistant Director of Music at King's. He took over in 2013 from Simon Brown (who took over from John Butt in 2001). The current director, on an interim basis, is Ralph Woodward.

Previous tours and appearances

Tours

The first King's Voices tour was in 2001, which was an exchange trip with the University Choir of Cologne. Since then, the choir has toured every year, with the exception of 2020, where the planned tour to Portugal was cancelled due to the

Coronavirus Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. King's Voices give concert and radio performances in various locations during each tour; in 2003, the tour to Paris included concert performances at

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

and La Madeleine.

Radio and album appearances

King's Voices have featured in a number of radio and album performances both domestically and abroad. The most recent album appearance was under the King's College record label, singing Herbert Howells' Te Deum and Magnificat from the ''Collegium Regale'' service alongside the college choir on an album of music by Howells. On their 2019 tour, the choir made an appearance on Italian National Radio, singing a selection of unaccompanied pieces on Rai Radio 3 Classica. Sopranos in King's Voices also appeared in a concert recording on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

in July 2019, alongside the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers is a professional British chamber choir, employed by the BBC. Its origins can be traced to 1924. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time profes ...

and

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the ...

as part of a farewell concert for Sir Stephen Cleobury.

References

External links

King's Voices
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Voices Voices or The Voices may refer to: Film and television * ''Voices'' (1920 film), by Chester M. De Vonde, with Diana Allen * ''Voices'' (1973 film), a British horror film * ''Voices'' (1979 film), a film by Robert Markowitz * ''Voices'' (1 ...

Cambridge choirs