New director for famed Cambridge choir
NewsSt Johns College Cambridge has fished a musician from Truro to be the new leader of its esteemed choir.
Gray, Director of Music at Truro Cathedral since 2008, inherits the post from Andrew Nethsingha who has risen to more celestial heaights as Organist and Master of Choristers at Westminster Abbey.
Heather Hancock, Master of St John’s, said: “Chris is an exceptional musician whose acclaimed choral direction has brought the Truro Cathedral Choir to international prominence, and whose innovation in musical education and outreach is widely admired. We have no doubt that, in Chris’s hands, the St John’s College Choir will sustain and enhance its reputation for breath-taking musicality and originality, enhancing daily worship, the life of the College, and delighting audiences worldwide.”
Andrew Nethsingha’s final Evensong at St John’s will be sung on Thursday 1 December at 6.30pm. Gray will begin his new role as Director of Music later this academic year. Professor Stephen Darlington MBE will be the interim Director of Music from Lent Term 2023.
Back in my LP- and CD-buying days, if I saw the name “St. John’s College Choir, Cambridge” on the jacket, I knew there would be beautiful singing on the recording.
Good luck and best wishes, Maestro Gray!
I remember Chris from his days as Organ Scholar at Guildford.
I am sure the choir is in the very best of hands and I wish him all the very best of luck!
Choral direction continues as a
yawn-inducing bastion of male dominance in classical music: along with anachronistic all-male cathedral choirs, of which there are still far too many.
Is there any female in Cambridge – other than Sarah MacDonald or Anna Lapwood – who directs a college choir?
Did any women apply for this job? Were they shortlisted?
One wonders…
Having said that, Mr Gray certainly appears to be well-suited to the role, judging by the contents of this article: https://www.classical-music.com/news/st-johns-college-announces-new-director-of-music/
In addition, the John’s choir now has women as well as girls in it, which is exciting.
Change is slow, but it is happening. I think that’s a good thing – and long overdue – even though most SL commenters are probably spluttering about it, as they take their anti-woke cough syrup for the day.
Let’s share these music-making privileges around – between all those who qualify for them.