Cambridge University Alumni Festival: On YouTube, and places where they sing

On Friday 25 September, join four Cambridge Directors of Music – Daniel Hyde, King’s; Sarah MacDonald, Selwyn; Matthew Martin, Gonville and Caius; Graham Ross, Clare – as they discuss the future of choral music at Cambridge in a socially-distanced world.

Ever since the founding of the University more than 800 years ago, the chapels of Collegiate Cambridge have been filled with the sound of voices raised in song. This year, for the first time in living memory, rehearsals and services ceased. In Cambridge, and all over the world, churches shut their doors, community centres stood empty and concert halls closed. But the music did not stop; our desire to sing cannot be repressed. Professionals and amateurs alike began to record their voices and mix the results, producing inspirational music from plainchant to psalms and from madrigals to motets. In Cambridge too, emerging technologies are enabling our choristers and choral scholars to transcend distance and to sing in harmony. As society begins cautiously to open up, we know we cannot keep from singing.