The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge

The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge brings one of England's most admired collegiate choral traditions to La Jolla. Founded as a mixed-voice choir in 1972, the ensemble sings regular services in Clare College Chapel while maintaining an international schedule of concerts, recordings, broadcasts, and tours. Under Graham Ross, Director of Music since 2010, the Choir is known for elegant ensemble singing, expressive text, and a repertoire that reaches from Renaissance polyphony to music of our own time. Their return gives San Diego audiences a rare chance to hear the living sound-world of Cambridge chapel music up close, not as a museum piece, but as a young, agile, deeply cultivated choral tradition. These are young adult voices shaped by the regular discipline of chapel worship, where blend, verbal clarity, flexibility, and responsiveness become daily habits rather than special effects. In concert, that foundation supports a remarkable expressive range, from the transparent counterpoint of early music to the harmonic colors and rhythmic demands of contemporary writing. The resonant acoustic of St. James brings listeners close to the inner workings of the ensemble while allowing the full sound to bloom. This is an opportunity to hear not an imitation of Cambridge choral culture, but one of its leading living institutions, carried across the Atlantic by the singers who sustain it week by week. The program is designed to welcome both experienced listeners and people encountering this repertoire for the first time. Its pacing allows musical contrasts to register clearly while sustaining a unified dramatic and emotional arc. The resonant interior of St. James becomes an active part of the experience, enriching sustained sound and bringing quieter details into focus.