About the Choir
'I love King's Choir's performances of my music.' John Rutter
'I would happily sit in King's College Chapel listening to this choir sing for the rest of my days.' The Times
Founded in the fifteenth century, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups. Every Christmas Eve millions of people worldwide tune into A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a service that has been broadcast each year by the BBC since 1928.
While the choir exists primarily to sing the daily services in King’s College Chapel, its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to invitations to perform around the globe, and to an extensive international tour schedule.
International performances
Rehearsing in Beijing, 2011
In recent seasons the Choir has travelled throughout Europe as well as to the US, South America, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Performances have been given at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Santa Cecilia (Rome), Ghent Festival of Flanders, Casa da Música Festival (Porto), Stresa Festival, Musikfest Bremen, Shanghai Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), Hong Kong Cultural Centre, National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Centre (Taiwan) and the Singapore Esplanade, to name just a few.
UK performances
The Choir also performs extensively in the United Kingdom, has appeared regularly at all the major halls in London and in the regions, and enjoys performing in UK festivals throughout the year.
Recent festival appearances have seen the Choir at the Sage, Gateshead, the City of London Festival, Chester Music Festival, Windsor Festival, Kings Place, St Albans International Organ Festival, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Aldeburgh Music, and there have been return invitations to Manchester (Bridgewater Hall), Birmingham (Symphony Hall) and Cardiff (St David’s Hall) amongst others.
The 2011/12 season
In the 2011/12 season the Choir’s many international appearances. These include a performance at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, a return to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, two concerts in the Kings Places ‘Mostly Mozart’ Series, a concert at Dijon Opera, and participation in the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the Thomanerchor, Leipzig with other boys’ choirs from around the world. Future plans for the Choir involve return tours to the Far East, US and to Australia. For a list of forthcoming concerts see Choir concerts and tours.
Work with orchestras
A live recording of Handel's Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music
The Choir appears frequently with symphony orchestras. It sang with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms in 2005, closed its 2005/6 season performing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and joined other Cambridge artists, ensembles and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2009 for a BBC Prom to mark Cambridge University’s 800th Anniversary.
It gives an annual Christmas concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, and there have been two recent appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, including a UK premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament.
In addition, the Choir has a close relationship with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Britten Sinfonia. In August and October 2010 the Choir was delighted to join the Academy of Ancient Music performing Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers at Festivals throughout France and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Recordings
The Choir enjoys a long-standing relationship with EMI Classics and its July 2009 release England, My England brings together many English choral favourites including Zadok the Priest and Spem in alium.
In June 2010 EMI released A Year at King’s which traces the church year with each festival or period of the church’s year represented by a selection of pieces.
In November 2010 EMI released the 80th anniversary broadcast of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. On Christmas Day, a recording of new carols commissioned annually by King’s College, has received tremendous critical acclaim, with BBC Music Magazine commenting 'King’s College, Cambridge, is a byword for the very best in Christmas music.'
In 2004/5 the Choir’s recording of Rachmaninov Liturgy of St John Chrysostom was nominated for a Grammy Award, the critic in Gramophone magazine greeting the recording as 'without a shadow of doubt, a triumph', adding that 'there is no comparable rival to this disc.'
You can find a list of recent recordings, including audio and video extracts, on the Hear the choir page. You can also find a list of Choir recordings dating back to 1997 on the EMI website. This website contains the full track listings for each CD.
Tradition
The Choir of King’s College owes its existence to King Henry VI who, in founding the College in 1441, envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel, one of the jewels of Britain’s cultural and architectural heritage.
As the pre-eminent representative of the great British church music tradition, the Choir regards the singing of the daily services as its raison d’être, and these are an important part of the lives of its sixteen choristers, fourteen choral scholars and two organ scholars who study in the College itself.
Choristers and Scholarships
The choristers are educated at King’s College School in Cambridge and receive generous scholarships from King’s College to help pay for their education.
The School has 400 boys and girls aged 4 to 13. The choristers are selected at an annual audition, advertised nationally, when they are in Year 2 or 3 at their school. A chorister joins the choir as he enters Year 4. For full information about King’s College School and the life of a Chorister, please see www.kcs.cambs.sch.uk and the Chorister recruitment page.
Stephen Cleobury is always pleased to hear from potential members of the Choir, choristers, choral scholars and organ scholars. Those interested are invited to contact him on telephone 01223 331224 or e-mail: choir [at] kings [dot] cam [dot] ac [dot] uk. You can also find information on joining the Choir in the following pages:
Representation
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is represented by Intermusica. Please contact Elizabeth Hayllar at ehayllar [at] intermusica [dot] co [dot] uk for further information.
