King’s College Choir, Cambridge

O wydarzeniu

Choral music, both professional and amateur, has a long tradition on the other side of the Channel, and the children’s and school choirs that seed the English countryside are every bit the match of their German or Austrian counterparts. The King’s College Choir is one of the oldest among them.

Founded at the initiative of Henry IV in 1441 to ensure the musical splendour of the chapel of the King’s College of Cambridge, the Choir has since that date performed the religious services of this venerable institution. With excellence as its sole objective, this demanding daily practice has turned the Choir into one of the most renowned and pre‐eminent choral groups in the world, and one of the most representative of the rich musical tradition of the Anglican Church. With such an instrument, the English composers of all periods, from Tallis and Byrd to Britten and Vaughan Williams, have sought to develop a repertoire of sacred a capella choral music of a richness unimaginable on this side of the Channel.

It is a passage, not from Calais to Dover, but from the 15th to the 20th century, to which the 35 members of the King’s College Choir and their musical director Stephen Cleobury invite us, to discover this music and this living tradition so profoundly anchored in the cultural and daily heritage of our good friends from Great Britain.