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Chapel choir

Chapel Choir

The Fitzwilliam College Chapel Choir is known for its high standard of singing, a commitment to a wide range of repertoire and its friendly, welcoming atmosphere.


The Chapel Choir comprises 16-24 auditioned undergraduate and postgraduate students, including up to eight Choral Scholars, led by the Director of Music and supported by the Organ Scholar(s).

In addition to its principal duty of singing Sung Evening Prayer on Sundays (sometimes a Carol Service, Communion, Requiem or Passion depending on the season) and various other services such as the termly Taizé and Compline services, and services and graces at College events, it sings 2-3 concerts a term. In 2018 these concerts ranged from Britten’s Hymn To St. Cecilia to fourteenth-century Catalan songs for Honorary Fellow Sr. Josep Carreras to Bernstein’s West Side Story for visiting Fellow Humphrey Burton CBE; in 2019 they include acting as chorus in Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro, and in 2020 they will include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at West Road Concert Hall. In addition, it tours occasionally and enjoys visiting Evensongs including the annual Home/Away Evensong with the choir of Fitz’s Oxford sister College, St. Edmund Hall.

The choir is welcoming and friendly, with high standards yet sociable biscuit breaks. It enjoys frequent collaborations with instrumentalists in everything from eighteenth-century Mass settings (and backwards) to jazz Mass settings (and forwards), excellent acoustics, a varied liturgical repertoire and strong support from the Chaplain.


Contact

For any enquiries about the Chapel Choir the Director of Music, Catherine Groom (music@fitz.cam.ac.uk).

Chapel choir

Organ Scholars

Fitzwilliam College usually has two organ scholars, a Senior and a Junior, who share the playing, conducting and running of the choir between them under the guidance of the Director of Music, Catherine Groom.