The Choir of Queens' College, Cambridge is a mixed-voice choir
comprised of singers drawn from across the University of Cambridge. The
choir comprises of Choral Scholars, recruited through the
Inter-collegiate Choral Award scheme (all voice parts), and
'volunteers', recruited through auditions which take place within
Queens' throughout the year (the main bulk being in October). Over the
last decade it has established a reputation for innovative and exciting
performances of a very wide range of repertoire. The choir is recruited
and directed by two student Organ Scholars (who hold the post for just
three years each) ensuring a malleable ensemble adapting constantly to
changes of repertory and approach.
The choir's busy term-time schedule includes a twice-weekly
Choral Evensong, special events marking the College's year, and
services in Cathedrals all over Britain, as well as a lively concert
calendar. The choir records regularly, having recently begun successful
relationships with two major record companies. The disc Evening Watch
was released in January 1999 by Guild Music Ltd, and gained high praise
from the journal Choir and Organ, who in a major profile of the choir
in its November 1999 issue called it "an exceptional performance of
core repertoire". Four further recordings have since been released
since, including Flight of Song which achieved playings on Radio Three
and Classic FM within a month of its release. The choir's most recent
release is Love and Honour (released in January 2005) and it very
quickly attracted favourable reviews.
Summer tours of the past few years have included Italy, France, Spain,
the Channel Islands and the USA. In 1999, as part of their two-week
trip to Germany and Switzerland, the choir sang at the 10th Munich
International Chorfest in Munich's prestigious Philharmonie im Gasteig.
Most recently the choir toured Hong Kong in December 2007, performing
in many prestigious venues, and in partnership with Queen's College
Hong Kong.
In February 2009 the choir augmented the Philharmonia Chorus in London Lyric Opera's concert performance of Fidelio at London's Cadogan Hall.
Queens' College Choir has been a keen promoter of contemporary
music since Charles Villiers Stanford (himself a Queens' Organ Scholar
in 1870) wrote a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, The
Queens' Service, for the choir, in 1874. Many of the choir's commercial
recordings include première recordings, and the Queens' 2000
composition competition attracted entries from all over the world. More
recently, the rebuilding of the historic 1892 Binns organ in Queens'
College Chapel (in October 2002) and the Accession of Her Majesty the
Queen to the role of Patroness of the college (in Spring 2003) have
triggered a number of commissions from composer Tarik O'Regan, which
feature on the choir's most recent recording, Love and Honour. The
choir is currently involved in the three-year Vigani's Cabinet
composition project, and last year gave the first performance and
recording of works by Michael Finissy and James Weeks.