2012 Annual Report - Jesus College - University of Cambridge

70 COLLEGE NEWS I Jesus College Annual Report 2012
Chapel Music
Mark Williams, Director of Chapel Music
O n the last day of September 2011, the College Choir welcomed nine new choral
scholars and a new organ scholar. It is a tribute to this year’s talented intake of
musicians that, within a few hours of meeting for the first time, the Choir, with a third
of its membership new to the stalls, sang Evensong for Graduate Freshers with a sense
of ensemble and corporate musicianship worthy of a group with several performances
under its belt. The blend, colour and character of the sound naturally grow over the
course of the year and none of this year’s choral scholars will forget the culmination of
many months of work as they sang their last notes together in the magical setting of the
gallery of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, the very spot on which the St Matthew Passion was
first performed under the direction of J.S. Bach himself.
The Chapel Choir began the year by welcoming Alasdair Austin as its new Head
Chorister with Nico Bryan and Sam Fitzgerald as Deputy Head Choristers, following the
‘retirement’ of Head Chorister Luke Fitzgerald and Deputy Head Chorister Oliver King.
The Feast of All Saints was marked in the church of All Saints on Jesus Lane, whilst
All Souls saw the College Choir sing Victoria’s Requiem as part of a moving service in
Chapel. Visiting choirs from the Leys School, Cambridge and the Grange School,
Cheshire, participated in Chapel services whilst Remembrance and Advent saw large
congregations for key services in the Chapel’s calendar, as did the annual round of carol
services for Fellows and Staff, Chorister parents and Choir Patrons, students and visitors.
Two performances in Ely Cathedral and the Royal Festival Hall of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast
with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the chapel choirs of Clare, Gonville & Caius, Jesus,
St John’s and Trinity in celebration of the 500th anniversary of St John’s College were
highlights of the Michaelmas Term alongside special events in the Chapel including
performances of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols by the female choral scholars and choristers
and a Christmas celebration with the boy choristers of Jesus College and the girl choristers
of St Catharine’s College in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. The Mixed Choir also visited
one of the College’s most attractive livings, Cavendish in Suffolk, for a Christmas carol
concert, singing to a delighted capacity audience.