Next Performances

2nd October 2026

Michaelmas 2026 Termcard

12:00am

Michaelmas Termcard 2026

8th October 2026

Choral Evensong

6:15pm

CHORAL EVENSONG
VOLUNTARY Bairstow Adagio in A
INTROIT Bankole (Clare 1961) Òrìşà bí òfun kò sí
RESPONSES Leighton
PSALM 94: 1–15 (Elvey)
READINGS Mark I: 1–8; 9–15
CANTICLES Bairstow in D
ANTHEM James MacMillan A new song
HYMN 242 (St Peter)
VOLUNTARY Darke Chorale Prelude on the Tune
‘St. Peter’, Op. 20, No. 1

Social Media

  • We’re excited to share ‘Magnificat’, the third single from our forthcoming album, ‘Reaching Farther’. These settings of the canticles by our Director of Music @mrgrahamross here receive their premiere recording. “My Clare Service, written during an enjoyable week in the summer of 2024 for the Choir for a @bbcradio3 broadcast that year, explores the more tender side of Mary in the Magnificat, with a fragile melodic fragment in the opening organ accompaniment serving as the nucleus for much of the musical material of both canticles”. ‘Reaching Farther’ spans works by composers with direct connections to @clarecollege, from William Denis Browne’s canticles composed as a student in 1911, through to world premiere recordings of new commissions including @nicomuhly’s title anthem, @heloisewerner’s canticles, and a setting by current undergraduate @thomasalban307. 🎧 Listen now! ➡️ https://open.spotify.com/track/0O8yBOktBwiZyE1JY4s6Rv?si=iBlw4ZIbSF6_y0wRDVFLGw&utm_source=copy-link #clarecambridge #choral #classical #newsingle #Magnficat
  • 👏 A wonderful first few days with our new Choir members! A big @choirofclarecollege welcome to Zach, Oscar, Levi, Leo, Alex, Eva, Otis, Aurora, Jerry, Hannah, Yipeng, Zoë, and Anna! ❤️ And our huge thanks once again to Rev’d Simon Taylor and @standrewstapleford for hosting us so generously today for our first service of the year. 🕯️ Choral services at @chapelofclarecollege resume next Thursday, with many highlights this Michaelmas Term including Duruflé Requiem, a joint service with our sister College @orieloxford, our popular Advent Carol Services with a new commission from @cherylhoad, and a 2-week tour across USA with @mrgrahamross to bring our year-long 700th anniversary celebrations to a close. 📖 Full details of all music and services for the Michaelmas Term in the Termcard here: https://www.clare.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-09/Updated%20Michaelmas%20Termcard%202026.pdf #ClareChoir @clarecollege @cambridgeuniversity #newyear #newterm #newchoir #Clare
  • 🥉 🏆 Starting the week off as No. 3 in @applemusic’s Choral Chill with our new single ‘Now the day is over’ by @joshua.pacey! One of the tracks of our new @signumrecords album ‘Reaching Farther’, released worldwide next month. (Also nice to see our recent Palestrina album feature as No. 4!) @choirofclarecollege @mrgrahamross @signumrecords #ReachingFarther #Applemusic #ChoralChill #playlist https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/choral-chill/pl.199a4a15f63741538e0c8e271ed2a347
  • Good luck to former @choirofclarecollege Choral Scholar @josephinestephenson_ (@clarecollege 2008) whose new work ‘That the sunrise not leave us unmoved’ receives its world première tonight at the First Night of the BBC Proms, performed by @bbc_singers @bbcsymphonyorchestra and conductor @daliastasevskaofficial. @bbcpromstagram #ClareCollege #Clarealumni #musicatClare #BBCProms #premiere
  • Switzerland/Italy Tour Blog Day 5: Ischia We arose to Ischia sunshine, about as far from Cambridge’s grey skies as we could get. A small group of early risers followed Daniel ‘roam ten thousand miles’ Livermore to the promise of a lighthouse on the other side of the island, but ended up on a beach 10mins from La Mortella. After a wonderful breakfast, the others descended on the nearby beach. Some took to sunbathing, others ventured into the unknown. For Izzy ‘mermaid’ Theodosius, the peril proved too great when she developed an unexpected connection with a sea urchin. After a delicious 3-course lunch provided by our generous hosts at La Mortella & yet more pool time, we rehearsed for our final concert of the year. The performance got off to an eventful start: Evie ‘organ shoes’ Perfect, separated from the organ loft, struggled to adapt to the intricacies of risers at ground level. This began a rather disturbing domino effect, with Martha ‘Day Tripper’ Alban following suit in the second half. Maria Teresa ‘her Italian is much better than mine’ Maddison’s ‘Blue Bird’ solo was rudely interrupted by an Aristophanic chorus of frogs, whilst Daniel ‘where’s my passport’ Livermore’s rendition of ‘The Turtle Dove’ was underpinned by distant revellers. The concert proved an emotional farewell for the 12 choir leavers, and we’re immensely grateful to all at La Mortella for providing us with such a picturesque venuw for our final outing. Before the applause had even finished, our obligatory pool party had already commenced. Not content with a trap remix alone, Amelie ‘DJ’ Huntley attempted to film a music video, giving Graham a run for his money with her elaborate choreography. Meanwhile, Cheryl ‘Mock the Week’ Jeyakumar ran her traditional ‘Quotes Quiz’, and Luca ‘I hate pools’ Zucchi got in the pool. Our final full day with the choir proved memorable in all the best ways. As outgoing Senior Choral Scholars, we will miss our regular services alongside special events like these. We couldn’t think of a better place to end our three years. Time to hand over to the next generation… This was our experience of Clare Choir. Maria Teresa (Can Sop) & Eoin (Dec Bass)
  • “May William Walton happy be in health, and wealth, and harmony” Herbert Howells’ ‘A Grace for 10 Downing Street’, written for a 70th birthday dinner for Walton hosted by Prime Minister Edward Health in 1972, sung in the pool of Walton’s home La Mortella on the island of Ischia in Italy. An amazing setting for our final concert of the year! #ClareChoir #WilliamWalton #Ischia #LaMortella
  • Switzerland / Italy Tour Blog Day 4: The Clare Choir Clan arose early to depart from our wonderful hostel to go to Lugano station, where several trains passed us by in a game of “is this or is this not our train?” After having made it to Milan, there was a streamlined and seamless transition from one train to another. There, Sophia “get me on the DJ decks” Foster and Amelie “I make trap remixes for funerals” Huntley thus began the Grammy award-winning saga of mixing and mastering their remix of none other than Clare’s own Shepherds Pipe Carol, albeit with a few more beat drops and quantising of rhythmic cells than Rutter had originally intended, all of which was completed over the span of our 7 hour journey to Napoli. When they said that Clare College Choir required stamina, one might not have been aware of the physical efforts that this implied, with Choral Scholar Eoin “gym bro” Jenkins showing us how it’s done by hauling out our suitcases from the bus, the first stage of our total wipeout crash course speed run to the ferry, which was followed by a hell for leather sprint to the docks, dodging crazy busses and falling suitcases, between which Graham “race across Napoli” Ross put us all to shame by not even breaking a sweat and being able to video the entire chronicles of this experience … the footage of this has been purposefully lost. Ross’ review of Huntley and Foster’s magnum opus proved rewarding and may in fact be featuring on the next album for this physically tired College Choir. A dash to the supermarket was made before being bussed up the mountain to the site where the uttered music went missing, William Walton’s estate, where we enjoyed light snacks in celebration of health, wealth, and harmony. This choir’s physical training didn’t stop there as many laps of Walton’s wonderful water world swimming pool was made but completely (not) in silence, just as Daniel “no gaps” Livermore requested. This was my experience of the day. Kathryn (Dec Sop)
  • Switzerland/Italy Tour Blog Day 3: Lugano After emerging from quadruple beds the choir went separate ways, seeking inspiration to enhance yet another once-in-a-lifetime performance. Keen to enjoy Lugano, a large cohort descended to the lakeshore, jumping at the chance to ride the FUN-icular once again. Despite “lesser-spotted” Livermore heading off solo, his favourite species could be spotted at the lake: house sparrow, tree sparrow, & Jess “big bird” Folwell sparrow. After aquatic merriment & familiar shouts of “Amelie put some suncream on” / the demanding cries of Eoin “take my picture” Jenkins, the group headed on a pasta pursuit to fuel the busy day ahead! Following an impressive pool ballet (featuring Amelie “twinkle-toes” Huntley, Sophie “Pavlova” Meredith, & Evie “drowning?” Perfect), & after Will “I love Italy” Bennet felt inspired by the Swiss scenes, it was time to make the voyage to our final concert with Coro Clairière. Our performance was taken to even greater heights, with half the choir serenading from steps above looking out over the mountains, the other half having the exceedingly glorious view of the better looking half of the choir (which included Patrick “toe blog” Tweedie). To prepare for future performances, Graham “it’s nice for them to see the space being used” Ross, commanded a corridor rehearsal, with necessary sound restrictions in place due to the overwhelming acoustic of such a structure. Our al-fresco dining wasn’t quite the recommended pre-concert ritual, although the deafening drums perhaps contributed to the metronomic throb within. The rousing atmosphere of Egypt vs Argentina led John “we can’t leave before the end” Gallant to boogie a little too hard, drowning the author in acqua frizzante. Further chaos erupted with meals delivered 20 mins before curtain-up, Olympic-level sprints to the venue, & a 19:52 plea for a concert shirt by a certain conductor - heroically supplied by Nick “it actually fit” Ong. Yet, in true CCCCC fashion, we gracefully took our places & delivered our beloved Striggio+Tallis one last time. A lakeside bar provided the perfect moonlit setting for final goodbyes to our Lugano friends. Holly (Dec alto)
  • Switzerland / Italy Tour Blog Day 2: Lugano and Milano After a much needed long sleep, the choir reassembled at breakfast, joined by Emma ‘expedition’ Caroe and Jemima ‘minimal sleep’ Gazzard who had been for a run and tested the waters of the Lugano lake. Maria Teresa ‘mother’ Maddison and Sofia ‘Brandy Melville’ Foster led a contingent to the explore Milan. There they were met by Harry ‘Appleby’ Taylor, who had been abandoned by Nick ‘I need AC’ Ong. Local spritzes and gelato were sampled, the Duomo was appreciated, and pre-rehearsal double espressos drunk. After circumnavigating the Chiesa Di San Fedele several times to find the entrance, Clareites felt right at home with the extensive scaffolding covering the church. After a long rehearsal appreciating the wonderful acoustics of the Chiesa di San Fedele and planning our Grahamography, we were treated to a delicious dinner of panzerotti. We had great fun performing with our friends at Coro Clairière once again, as well as the fantastic Concerto Scirocco. The energetic members the choir headed to the one of the few bars in Lugano open after midnight and enjoyed well-earned post concert drinks, only slightly dampened by the premature closing of MacDonalds. Jemima (Dec Sop) A cracking start to the day in the boys’ changing room. Somehow we survived the night despite people trying their best to make the beds collapse. A hearty breakfast and a swim in the pool put our souls to rest. All the couples then proceeded to the swimming pool to deepen their relationships. Clare Choir were lucky to receive the coach with air conditioning but had to take on a few sickly Luganese from the other coach. The concert was a success despite some choir members’ insistence on wallowing in every mistake made. The day finished with a small contingent heading to a bar. (We expect better turnouts in future). This is my experience of yesterday. John (Can Bass)

clarechoir

Clare College Choir

@clarechoir ·
9h

Released today: ‘Magnificat’, the third single from our forthcoming @SignumRecords album, 'Reaching Farther’. These settings of the canticles by our Director of Music @mrgrahamross here receive their premiere recording.

🎧 Listen now!
➡️ https://open.spotify.com/track/0O8yBOktBwiZyE1JY4s6Rv?si=iBlw4ZIbSF6_y0wRDVFLGw&utm_source=copy-link

#newsingle

Reply on Twitter 2107810423013560487 Retweet on Twitter 2107810423013560487 1 Like on Twitter 2107810423013560487 3 X 2107810423013560487