2012 Annual Report - Jesus College - University of Cambridge

72 COLLEGE NEWS I Jesus College Annual Report 2012
and for their contributions to a masterclass with renowned mezzo-soprano Dame Ann
Murray. Together with the choirs of Gonville & Caius College and Ely Cathedral, the
College Choir gave a concert of Music for Passiontide in Ely Cathedral in March and with
a team of distinguished soloists performed Rossini’s playful Petite Messe Solennelle in the
College Chapel in the week following the end of term.
The choirs went into the Easter Term well and truly warmed up by three pre-term days
spent recording a disc of music for Remembrance for release on the Signum label in
2013. The rather cautious approach to extra commitments during exam term paid off
with impressive performances from choral and organ scholars in tripos, including firsts
for more than half of the new first year choir members and a starred first for the talented
Junior Organ Scholar, Benjamin Morris. Nevertheless, the Choir didn’t shirk on its
regular commitments and Evensongs continued throughout exams alongside special
services for Mr Rustat’s Audit, Ascension and the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
in addition to a memorial service for distinguished former Master, Sir Alan Cottrell.
Following the end of term, the Choristers gave a concert in aid of the British Red Cross
in Great Wenham and the Mixed Choir in Arkesden in aid of St Mary’s Church and sang
services for Graduation, for donors to the College and for the Reunion Dinner.
The year drew to a moving and memorable close with a tour to Germany during which
the College Choir gave concerts in Bad Langensalza and Arnstadt and the Combined
Choirs in Halle, all to large and enthusiastic audiences. However, for many the
experience of singing in both the Nikolaikirche and Thomaskirche in Leipzig will be one
of the abiding memories of 2012. To perform in the two churches which employed
Johann Sebastian Bach and in which many of his masterpieces were first heard was an
extraordinary privilege and one which I am delighted was afforded to the Choristers,
Choral Scholars and Organ Scholars of Jesus College. ■
The New Harpsichord
O n 1 June this year, the College took possession of a new harpsichord, commissioned
by Stephen Heath, Fellow of the College, and built by Bruce Kennedy at his
workshop in Tuscany. Kennedy harpsichords have an international reputation; they are
to be heard on numerous recordings and found in conservatoires and concert halls
throughout the world, from New York to Vienna, Tokyo to Prague. There are only two
other Kennedy harpsichords in the UK, one at the Handel House Museum in London,
the other at the Guildhall School of Music.
The Jesus harpsichord, a double-manual instrument featuring two 8’ stops, a 4’ stop
and a buff, is modelled on a 1728 harpsichord by the German builder Christian Zell
(c.1683-1763) now in Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. The decoration of
the soundboard by the American artist Pamela Gladding, who has worked with
Kennedy for many years, delicately introduces the College crest within the overall
decoration of the soundboard, which is based on period motifs. Members of the
Society of St Radegund were able to hear the new instrument played by the Director of
Music during a brief interlude in their annual dinner in the College Hall in July. Its
inauguration proper, however, will take the form of a recital to be given in the Chapel on
the 27 of October 2012 by the young, internationally renowned, Iranian-American
instrumentalist Mahan Esfahani, generally regarded as the leading harpsichordist of his
generation. In 2011 he gave the first ever solo harpsichord recital at the BBC Proms.