“A crowning glory of our civilisation” Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music
"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
Stephen Cleobury - Director of Music
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: this service has been broadcast each year by the BBC since 1928. While the choir exists primarily to sing at the daily church services of King’s College Chapel, its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to invitations to perform throughout the world, and to an extensive international tour schedule.
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 Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Settembre Musicale in Turin, Teatro alla Pergola (Florence), Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Gothenburg Church Music Festival, Stuttgart Barock Festival, Istanbul International Music Festival, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Seoul Arts Center, and the Singapore Esplanade, to name just a few.
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 and future British performances include the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, Newbury Spring, York Early Music, Norfolk & Norwich, Aldeburgh and return invitations to Manchester and Birmingham amongst others. The Choir, which appears frequently with symphony orchestras, singing 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 gives an annual Christmas concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. In addition the Choir has a close relationship with the Academy of Ancient Music and other early music ensembles including Florilegium and Fretwork.
In the 2008/9 season and the future the Choir’s many international appearances include the Flanders Festival in Gent, Palace of Arts in Budapest, Stresa Festival, both Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Sacred Music Festival in the Vatican City and a return visit to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The Choir made its first ever visit to South America in December 2007 performing in Sao Paulo and San Carlos. Following acclaimed tours of the United States in December 2005 and April 2008 King’s will return to the US for Christmas concerts in December 2010. Future plans for the Choir involve a European summer festival tour, a return visit to the Far East (Korea, Singapore, Japan and other venues) and another visit to Australia.
The Choir records exclusively for EMI Classics and is delighted that this relationship is continuing into the future. In the Autumn of 2008 they will release two recordings of English music following on from their successful 2007 early English music collaboration with the viol ensemble Fretwork “I Heard a Voice” – music by Tudor composers Gibbons, Tomkins and Weelkes. 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 The Gramophone magazine greeting the recording as “without a shadow of doubt, a triumph”, adding that “there is no comparable rival to this disc”.
Recent additions to the discography include a recording of Brahms’ Requiem in the composer’s unusual arrangement for Choir, soloists and piano (four hands) (“… superbly sung and beautifully balanced … a triumph” – BBC Music Magazine), a Purcell disc Music for Queen Mary with the Academy of Ancient Music (“In the repertoire on this new disc... Cleobury, King’s College, and the AAM prove currently unbeatable” – BBC Music Magazine), John Rutter’s Gloria with the CBSO, an album of Gregorian chant, several discs of baroque music with the AAM, Rachmaninov’s Vespers (which won the first ever Classical Brit Award), and a live recording of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. A DVD, Anthems from King’s, has been released following a DVD of Carols from King’s, which also contains historic footage of the Choir.
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 daily services remain the Choir’s raison d’être, and are an important part of the lives of its sixteen choristers, and the fourteen choral scholars and two organ scholars who study in the College itself.
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 340 boys and girls aged 4 to 13 and the choristers are selected at an annual audition when they are in Year 2 or 3 at school. A chorister joins the school 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.
Stephen Cleobury is always pleased to hear from potential members of the Choir. Those interested are invited to contact him on telephone 01223 331224 or e-mail: choir@kings.cam.ac.uk.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is represented by Intermusica.
Please contact Serena Evans at sevans@intermusica.co.uk for further information.
August 2008 / 875 words.
This biography is not to be altered without permission, if you need a shorter version please contact Intermusica.