The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge

Voted the fifth best choir in the world in Gramophone magazine’s ‘20 Greatest Choirs’, The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge is a mixed-voice ensemble comprising around thirty Choral Scholars and two Organ Scholars.

The College’s choral tradition dates back to the all-male choir of the fourteenth century, when former Chapel Royal choristers studied in King’s Hall which later became part of Trinity College. Directors of Music have included Charles Villiers Stanford, Alan Gray, Raymond Leppard, Richard Marlow and Stephen Layton. > Steven Grahl was appointed Director of Music in 2024.

During term, the Choir’s main focus is the singing of the liturgy in the College Chapel. A wide-ranging repertoire draws on five centuries of Catholic and Protestant sacred music and renews the living choral tradition through an extensive commitment to works by contemporary composers. Outside term, the Choir’s > concert appearances have included Bach’s St John Passion, Mass in B Minor and Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment, Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the City of London Sinfonia and Poulenc’s Gloria with Britten Sinfonia. An ambitious international > touring schedule has seen visits to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Peru, and two month-long nationwide tours of Australia as part of the Musica Viva International Concert Season.

The Choir’s extensive > discography on Hyperion Records includes the Gramophone Award-winning Howells: Requiem (2012) and five further Gramophone Award nominees including Northern Lights, a recording of choral works by the Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds. Other highlights include Duruflé’s Requiem (New York Times Best Classical Recordings of 2024), Howells: Collegium Regale (Limelight Recording of the Year 2016, Australia),Choral Works by former Trinity Organ Scholar Owain Park (BBC Music Magazine Record of the Year nominee), and Handel: Chandos Anthems (Gramophone ‘Fifty Greatest Handel Recordings Of All Time’). The most recent release, a showcase compilation of Anglican anthems titled Let all the world in every corner sing was hailed by Gramophone as “polished to an exemplary level of sparkling opulence”.

Since 2012, in a pioneering move for Cambridge, all services sung by the Choir have been
audio livestreamed. Video livestreaming commenced in 2019; as of October 2022, all services are now livestreamed in video to an international audience. Every livestream since 2012 is freely available on the Choir’s website, which has a > searchable archive of over 7,500 musical tracks recorded live in services.