St Catharine’s College Girls’ Choir
11th March 2008St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, is delighted to announce the formation of a new girls’ choir, to be drawn from Cambridge schools, and to sing regularly in the College’s exquisite 18th century chapel. The founding of any new choir is noteworthy, but the founding of this – the first – College-based girls’ choir at a UK university represents a ground-breaking innovation. For while the boys choirs at Oxford and Cambridge are well-established, and Cathedrals have been operating girls and boys choirs alongside one another for some years, it is a curious anomaly that no College choir has up until now found a place for girl choristers. The choir is the brainchild of the Director of Music Dr Edward Wickham and the Chaplain the Rev’d Anthony Moore. “This is a tremendous opportunity for St Catharine’s to develop further its links with the wider Cambridge community, and to play an active role in musical education at the school level,” says Dr Wickham. “The benefits work both ways – the choristers get the chance to make music regularly at a high level, while I know that College music will be enormously enriched by this new ensemble.” The St Catharine’s Girls’ Choir will be made up of up to 18 girls, aged between nine and fourteen, drawn from a variety of Cambridge schools. It will meet twice a week, participating in evensong on a Tuesday and also in special concerts at Christmas and in the Spring. It will be semi-independent of the existing student choir, at times singing with them, and on other occasions on their own, and the new choir will enable an expansion of choral music at services in the Chapel. “Our current student choir really is in excellent form,” says Anthony Moore, “so now is the perfect time to extend our choral liturgical provision and to draw a wider communion into the Chapel and the life of the College as a whole. There are exciting times ahead.” More details from Dr Edward Wickham at St Catharine’s on music@caths.cam.ac.uk. Dr Edward Wickham, Director of College Music |
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