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Cambridge Singers (Chamber Choir)

Born: 1981 - Cambridge, England

The Cambridge Singers are a general-repertoire mixed-voice choir, one of the best known in the CD era. They are particularly associated with the wildly popular choral compositions of their founder, John Rutter, who established the group in 1981 expressly as a professional chamber choir for recording sessions. The initial nucleus of the group comprised seven former members of the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, which John Rutter directed between 1975 and 1979. All additional members had also been choral scholars in British colleges.

In 1984 John Rutter created the Collegium Records label in order to record the Cambridge Singers. This was at the very beginning of the CD era, and the Cambridge Singers had one of the first major successes for a small independent label in their recording of the original orchestration of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, and other music by G. Fauré. The choir's beauty of tone and the exemplary recording of the album established both the label and the choir as top representatives of their type. Soon Collegium released the Singers in a recording of John Rutter's own Requiem, a work much in the vein of the G. Fauré work, consolidating the reputation of the choir and the label, and arousing worldwide interest in John Rutter's choral compositions, many of which are now frequently performed by choirs around the world. While John Rutter's music is central to the group, they have also recorded a range of music from the Baroque through the Contemporary. The Cambridge Singers are still primarily a recording ensemble, but they do make concert and church appearances. Baritone Gerald Finley and tenor Mark Padmore are among the notable alumni of the group.

They have been involved in the last four Fresh Aire albums (about "mankind's curiosities") of the Mannheim Steamroller band, by composer Chip Davis, but they are primarily a classical choral group. They have recorded several highly acclaimed Christmas albums, including "Christmas Night", "Christmas Star", "Christmas with the Cambridge Singers", and "The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album".

Comment:
John Rutter's group is not to be confused with "Cambridge Singers," a well-regarded concert choir in the Los Angeles area, based in the city of Pasadena.

Members of Cambridge Singer (1987-):

Sopranos

Altos

Tenors

Basses

Helen Ashby
Kate Ashby
Caroline Ashton
Fiona Clarke
Grace Davidson
Donna Deam
Ruth Gomme
Amy Haworth
Rebecca Hickey
Alison Hill
Katy Hill
Ruth Holton
Celia Jackson
Louise Kateck
Karen Kerslake
Marcelle Mace
Simone Mace
Joanna Maggs
Elin Manahan Thomas
Jocelyn Miles,
Amy Moore
Mary Mure
Rachel Platt
Juliet Schiemann
Mary Seers
Olive Simpson
Penny Stow
Nancy-Jane Thompson
Clare Wallace
Susanna Watson
Julia Wilson-James
Lucy Winkett
Amy Wood [MB]

Ian Aitkenhead [MB]
Emma Ashby
Nicola Barber
Ruth Clegg
Patrick Craig
Alex Donaldson
Ruth Gibbins
Peter Gritton
Natanya Hadda
Phyllida Hancock
Eleanor Harries
Diana Hawker
Mary Hitch
Frances Jellard
Carris Jones
Nicola-Jane Kemp
Melanie Marshall
Ruth Massey
Martha McLorinan
Susanna Spicer
Caroline Trevor
Penny Vickers

Daniel Auchincloss
John Bowen
Ben Breakwell
Harvey Brough
Ronan Busfield
Andrew Carwood
Simon Davies
Peter Di-Toro
David Dunnett
Andrew Gant
Paul Gordon
Robert Graham-Campbell
Thomas Hobbs
Benedict Hymas
Mark Le Brocq
Mark Padmore
Rory Phillips
Tom Phillips
Richard Rowntree
Philip Sheffield
Angus Smith
Paul Sutton
Jeremy Taylor
Nicholas Todd
Simon Wall
David Watson
Nicholas Wilson
Richard Wilson

Richard Bannan
Neil Bellingham
Edward Caswell
Michael Chambers
Gabriel Crouch
Simon Davies
William Dawes
Gerald Finley
Charles Gibbs
Donald Greig
Bruce Hamilton
Andrew Hammond
James Holliday
Oliver Hunt
Patrick Lee-Browne
James Mure
Matthew O'Donovan
Daniel Pailthorpe
Charles Pott
Edmund Saddington
Nicholas Sears
Reuben Thomas
Benjamin Thompson
Wen-Ho Tsai
Julian Walker [MB]
Russell Watson

MB = Missing Biography. If you would like to contribute a biography of the artist, please send me a message. My e-mail address and the instructions can be found at the page: Short Biographies - Explanation.

Source: All Music Guide Website (Author: Joseph Stevenson); Wikipedia Websiter (July 2016)
Contributed by
Aryeh Oron (February 2017)

John Rutter: Short Biography | Cambridge Singers | Recordings of Vocal Works

Links to other Sites

Collegium Records: The Home of John Rutter & The Cambridge Singers
Cambridge Singers (Singers.com)
Cambridge Singers (Wikipedia)
Cambridge Sigers - Biography (AMG)


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Explanation | Acronyms | Missing Biographies | The Sad Corner




 

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Last update: Sunday, June 25, 2023 22:15