Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College Chapel Choir
Sitting at the centre of music and worship at Pembroke college, the chapel choir is formed of around 24 singers drawn from the University. They study a wide range of subjects and come from a variety of musical backgrounds.
Directed by Anna Lapwood, The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College has one of the most exciting and varied ranges of choral endeavours among Oxbridge choirs. Alongside their primary responsibility of contributing to worship in the College’s Chapel, they engage in regular artistic collaborations, media appearances and outreach work.
The choir tours frequently across Europe and UK cathedrals, and outreach work forms a core part of its tours further afield. Their most recent tour to Thailand featured musical workshops with schoolchildren, a visit to Pattaya Orphanage and a series of workshops at the Noh Bo Academy. Through an ongoing collaboration with the Muze Trust the Director of Music Anna Lapwood makes yearly visits to Zambia to develop her relationships with communities there, and the choir visits Zambia every three years.
Closer to home the choir sings a mix of services and concerts as part of the broad portfolio comprising Music at Pembroke. In addition to the regular weekly services, the choir has at least one full concert per term, often performing major works. In recent years highlights from concerts in Cambridge have included Bach’s Magnificat, Fauré’s Requiem and the Vivaldi Gloria. There is also a termly concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, where the singers recently performed Allegri’s Miserere by candlelight alongside pieces from their debut CD. The choir is committed to exploring more music by women and composers from across the world, and every service features at least one piece by such a composer.
Just as with international outreach work, the choir can also be found hosting Cambridge-based events designed to get as many people from the local community singing as possible. Such an event might take the form of a come and sing for local singers alongside the Pembroke Singers choral society, or it might be one of the termly workshops where children from local schools can experience high quality music making. The choir is also heavily involved in the flourishing relationship between Pembroke College and Pembroke House, a settlement and church in Walworth. In addition to seasonal joint services alternating between Cambridge and London the choir joins with the community from Walworth for other musical and social activities. These and more make up the choir’s diverse musical undertakings.
More information about joining the choir can be found below:
