We’re delighted to be sharing details of Summer 2023 Concerts, featuring a number of performances across the UK in July and September 2023. We hope to see you there!
More details can be found on our new ‘Concerts’ page on our website: https://www.gentlemenofstjohns.co.uk/concerts
We would be delighted if you could join us for one of six special concerts in beautiful venues across the South of England. Concerts will vary in duration and programming, but you can be guaranteed an evening of wonderful sacred and secular music, with repertoire spanning over 500 years.
Ticket Information
Friday 2nd - Barrington: All Saints’ Church, 7:00 - 9:00pm including an interval. Tickets available here
Friday 16th - Oxford: St Michael at the North Gate, 7:30 - 9:30pm including an interval. Tickets available here
Saturday 17th - Dorchester: St Peter’s Church, 6:30 - 8:30pm with interval. Tickets available here
Tuesday 20th - West End: Gordon’s School, 7:00 - 9:00pm including an interval. Tickets on sale soon
Friday 23rd - Sherborne: - Cheap Street Church, 7:00 - 9:00pm including an interval. Tickets on sale soon
St John’s College will continue its reputation for musical excellence by featuring male and female voices – both adults and children – in its world-renowned choir for the first time.
Founded in the 1670s, The Choir of St John’s has a rich, warm and distinctive sound. Known internationally for its broadcasts, concert tours and more than 100 recordings, the choir is made up of around 20 choristers, who join from the age of eight, and around 16 adult choral scholars who are largely students at St John's College, one of the 31 constituent Colleges of the University of Cambridge.
The choir enhances services of the College Chapel through daily Evensong services and Sung Eucharist on Sundays during university term.
The decision to admit girls and women will mean the choir will be unique in a Cambridge or Oxford College – no other choir of its kind combines the voices of males and females in both adults and children.
Andrew Nethsingha, former organ scholar at St John’s, has directed the choir for 14 years and its repertoire spans 500 years of sacred music. Nethsingha has a reputation for encouraging young singers, championing contemporary music, and commissioning new work from established and emerging composers. He has spearheaded the move to admit girls and women to the choir.
Andrew Nethsingha, Director of Music. Credit: James Beddoe
The Director of Music said: “Providing an opportunity for girls and women to sing as members of The Choir of St John’s is a very exciting development for the choral tradition of the College. Choral singing is a specialised art form, and our choir has played a formative role in the careers of many globally recognised musicians.
“Extending membership to talented female singers creates an exceptional new musical opportunity for women and girls, as our much loved choir continues to make a highly valued contribution to the musical life of St John’s and the wider world.”
The inclusion of girls and women will begin in 2022. Men and women will be largely recruited to the choir from the student body of the College. Choristers typically join in Year 4 of school and sing until the end of Year 8. Boy and girl choristers admitted into the choir are educated at St John’s College School. The choristers come to Cambridge from a wide variety of backgrounds and generous scholarships are provided to support their education – the aim is that no child is prevented from joining the choir on financial grounds.
Credit: B Ealovega
Nethsingha added: “Much of the St John’s style is created by a particular approach to phrasing, to tone-colour, to suppleness of line, by warmth and generosity, by emotional engagement with the text, by a desire to move the listener rather than simply impress them with technical accomplishment – the choristers create something of extraordinary beauty every day.
“Our choir is a family, with an emphasis on mutual encouragement, enjoyment, kindness, praise and empathetic support. In addition to their musical training, the choristers learn innumerable skills including teamwork, attention to detail, self-confidence, leadership, professionalism and responsibility. These attributes stay with them for the rest of their lives.
“Each singer is an individual with their own vocal colour, their own personality and their own strengths and weaknesses – we nurture each singer’s voice. New choristers generally join in Year 4 and it will be four or five years before all five year-groups of the choir contain both boys and girls. The total number of choristers will increase from 20 to 25.
“Boys’ voices tend to reach their peak around Year 8, whereas girls’ voices continue to develop for many years after that. Our choir will continue to celebrate and give a platform to those unique moments in boys’ vocal development whilst ensuring girls and women are also given the chance to benefit from a musical education that will transform the rest of their lives.
“I hope this small step will bring the day closer when there is gender equality amongst composers, organists and conductors, as well as among politicians, business leaders and in all other walks of life.”
Heather Hancock, Master of St John’s College, said: “The Choir of St John’s has a stellar reputation for its contribution to the rich choral tradition of the UK. It is a musical treasure of St John’s, the university and, indeed, the world.
“Being a member of the choir provides participants with an outstanding choral education and vocal training. The College is delighted to support our exceptional Director of Music, Andrew Nethsingha, as he recruits women and girls, as well as men and boys, to become members of the choir. This pioneering step will continue the distinctive tradition of choral excellence at St John’s and honours the College’s overarching commitment to equality.”
Evensong at St John’s College, Cambridge, is sung daily at 6.30pm during university term-time. It is free and open to all.
The Gentlemen of St John’s are delighted to announce a series of concerts scheduled to take place in September 2021 across the South of England.
The Gentlemen of St John’s, September Concerts, 2021
We would be delighted if you could join us for one of six special concerts in beautiful venues across the South of England. Concerts will vary in duration and programming, but you can be guaranteed an evening of wonderful sacred and secular music, with repertoire spanning over 500 years.
Ticket Information
Friday 3rd - Sherborne: Cheap Street Church, 7:00 - 9:00pm including an interval. SOLD OUT
Saturday 4th - Orpington: All Saints’ Church, 7:00 - 8:30pm including an interval. Tickets available here
Thursday 16th - Warwick: St Mary’s Church, 7:30 - 8:30pm with no interval. Tickets available here
Saturday 18th - Romsey: Romsey Abbey, 7:30 - 9:30pm including an interval. Tickets available here
Thursday 23rd - Haileybury: - Haileybury School, 7:00 - 9:00pm including an interval. Tickets available here
Friday 24th - Oxford: St Michael at the North Gate Church, 7:30 - 9:30pm including an interval. SOLD OUT
The Gentlemen of St John’s are pleased to be working in collaboration with The Voices Foundation to deliver a series of workshop events in June and July in schools across the South of England.
Voices Foundation has been working alongside teachers and school communities since 1993 to transform music education, supporting children’s wider skill development and wellbeing through accessible and inclusive singing programmes. They provide Continuing Professional Development and Learning for educators, inspiring content for parents and in-depth research and evaluation. Read more about the Voices Foundation and their work on their website (https://www.voices.org.uk).
We are absolutely delighted to be working with the Voices Foundation, whose invaluable work in bringing opportunities for singing into nurseries, schools, and music education hubs is an inspiration. We hope that our visits to schools working in partnership with the Voices Foundation can help young people across the country to discover the joy of making music, so that every child can find their voice.
Joseph Hancock
Manager, The Gentlemen of St John’s
Welcome to our new website! Our old one was looking a bit tired, so we started tidying things up back in May. I say “we,” but it was largely down to Louis Marlowe (’17), Baritone and arranger extraordinaire who came up with the look and layout. He even snapped a few pics of us with which to decorate our biogs. Of course, fresh Gents will arrive next week, so keep your eyes peeled for new faces.
As one of this year’s leavers, getting the site up and running has been a bittersweet exercise these last few weeks. My tenure as manager was an exciting year, beginning with the release of White Christmas back in December, and ending with a tour to Jersey in July. Sandwiched in between those two milestones were concerts, feasts, receptions, baptisms, weddings, funerals, and the occasional evening in the Maypole. There is rarely a dull moment in the Gents, and I will miss it all a great deal.
Will is taking over as manager, and I can’t wait to see where he takes things. I will be following Gentle developments on here as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I highly recommend you do the same!
-Dan
