Fitz Music aims for inclusivity, diversity and excellence. There’s an annual fully-staged in-house opera production, typically involving around 40 Fitz students both with and without prior musical or stage experience as singers, orchestral players or in production; there’s a busy choir, active beyond the Chapel as well as within it; a student-led Gospel Choir; male and female a cappella groups Fitz Barbershop and the Fitz Sirens; an affiliated Swing Band; regular band and jazz nights; a broad range of small-band and chamber music activity and frequent more irregular orchestral, jazz orchestra or specialist projects depending on current student interest.

You can read for the Music Tripos here, but instrumental and vocal tuition is by no means restricted to those who do: we have an in-house accompanist and piano teacher and links with a great many vocal and instrumental teachers. We also have visiting masterclasses and coaching, most recently from Mandhira de Saram (contemporary string playing) and Gabriella Liandu (gospel singing). We take part in the University’s organ and choral awards schemes, but also offer a range of other instrumental scholarships including musical leadership, saxophone, string, solo piano and piano accompaniment. 

The Director of Music, Catherine Groom, has a background in theatrical and interfaith music. She’s played, sung or conducted in the West End, for Shakespeare’s Globe, for the Royal Shakespeare Company and widely in opera, on-soundtrack, on-screen and in liturgy. An inspiring long-running project in Morocco led to her current research interest of psalms at convergences of the Abrahamic faiths. Cat conducts the annual fully-staged Fitz Opera, directs the choir in its activities in Chapel and beyond, coaches conducting students and oversees and co-ordinates practical music-making in College as well as teaching historical subjects on the Music Tripos. She’s always delighted to hear from potential applicants with musical interests, with questions on opportunities at Fitz, and you can contact her at music.director@fitz.cam.ac.uk.

A College Music Society works alongside Cat to curate a programme of student and professional concerts both formal and informal. Recent visiting artists have included Yeo Yat-Soon and Agnes Chen (harpsichord and guzheng).

Our resources include a well-equipped Auditorium and acoustically fine Chapel with fine organ; practice rooms large and small; three grand pianos; numerous upright acoustic and digital pianos and harpsichord; drum kit and timpani, a small number of instruments for loan to international students and an extensive sheet music collection.