King's College has released a half-hour musical tour of Bach's St Matthew Passion, often described as one of the greatest sacred choral works of all time. Presented by the singer James Gilchrist, it uses musical extracts from the performances in April 2019, for which Gilchrist was the Evangelist. The same concerts were recorded for the new [...]
We announced this week that King's will be releasing a webcast recording of a choral service each and every day between now and July, in place of the choral services that would have taken place in the Chapel. King's College recently closed to all but essential visitors in response to UK government advice. [...]
It was with great sadness that King's College learned of the death of Sir Stephen Cleobury last Friday, St Cecilia's Day. Stephen was Director of Music at King's from 1982 until his retirement only recently. His last engagement with the Choir was Evensong on 7 July; a moving service that you can listen to again on [...]
The most recent album on the King's College label, 100 Years of Nine Lessons & Carols, has enjoyed unprecedented success for the King's label, becoming the second-best-selling all-classical album in the UK during 2018. The album, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Eve service 'A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols', has now been #1 [...]
Each year, a leading composer is commissioned to write a carol for the Choir to perform at A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve. The custom was instigated in 1983 with Stephen Cleobury’s appointment as Director of Music as a scheme to refresh continually the celebrated tradition he had inherited. Composers are chosen not [...]
Daniel Hyde (Photo: Hugh Warwick) The Provost and Fellows of King’s College, Cambridge are delighted to announce the appointment of Daniel Hyde as Director of Music at King’s, to take office on 1 October 2019. Mr Hyde will succeed Stephen Cleobury CBE, who has held the post with great distinction since 1982. “I am [...]
Choral Matins in King's College Chapel on Sunday 13 May, including the annual Semon before the University, has been released as a webcast on the King's College website. This unique occasion in the Cambridge year derives from the annual 'Lady Day' sermon, the requirement for which was written into the Founder's statutes. This was 'Foundation Day', [...]
An event from the Easter at King's Festival, Blazing Harmonies: the Spirit of Etty Hillesum, has been made available as an audio webcast, in full. The event is a performance based on extracts from the diaries and letters of the young Jewish woman, Etty Hillesum (read by actor Rosie Hilal), interspersed with narration by Donald Macleod [...]
Recording 'Second Farewell to Cambridge' in King's College Chapel At the Backs of King's College there is a memorial stone in white marble commemorating an alumnus of the College, renowned Chinese poet Xu Zhimo. Moving to the UK in 1921, Zhimo spent a year studying at King's, where he fell in love not only [...]
In celebration of the group's 50th anniversary, the six King's Singers performed a gala concert in the Chapel at King's last week, which is now available as a webcast on the King's College website. Originally formed by six King's College Choral Scholars in 1968, the group has seen 26 singers pass through its ranks. The current [...]
