Next Performances

5th July 2026

Summer Vacation

12:00am

Choral services resume on Thursday, 8 October 2026 at 6.15 p.m.

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  • 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)
  • 16th century surround sound… in 40 parts! The closing bars of the Credo of Alessandro Striggio’s mighty Missa Ecco si beato giorno from 1565, performed in the Chiesa di San Fidele, Milan, 6 July 2026 @choirofclarecollege @coro_clairiere @concerto_scirocco @brunellaclerici @mrgrahamross
  • Switzerland / Italy Tour Blog Day 1 Blog 2: HEATHROW TO ZÜRICH GROUP: The day began much later than had been previously planned (much to the chagrin of the 6am Basel group), with a planned leisurely 11.15 departure extended by a further 45 mins by the bus driver mistaking ‘from’ and ‘to’. The journey was not without pitfalls, including a well-needed tour around all Heathrow terminals, much to Graham “NO IT’S TERMINAL FIVE” Ross’ & Cheryl “unskippable cut scene” Jeyakumar’s delight. Our traverse of the airport ran relatively smoothly, despite Thomas “smuggler” Alban’s game of Monopoly Deal deemed a suspicious object. Graham “I don’t know what to do with myself” Ross suffered through a whole hour in the airport with the choir itself, rather than in the BA lounge… the less said about this the better. On the flight, Finn “delusional” Kjaergaard expressed a firm belief that the flight attendant was flirting with him, and Sophia “living it up” Foster enjoyed an airborne Aperol Spritz. After a stressful ten minutes at baggage claim in which Eoin “General” Jenkins attempted to rally the group towards the exit while people kept disappearing, we just made our connection to Zürich HB. Lugging our suitcases, we were led up & then almost immediately down the stairs of the doubledecker train (much to the amusement of the other passengers), and Huatai “Gen Alpha” Cui proved that 6/7 jokes are truly universal. Zürich’s central station ‘rapido’ pretzel store was put to the test as half of Clare choir descended upon it for snacks with 10 mins to go. Finally en route, Graham “Holiday Mode” Ross opened up his travel sized bottle of wine, Harry “Exams are over” Appleby Taylor brought out the beers, and these accompanied Finn “angling for future Senior choral scholar” Kjaergaard’s canticle quiz as we sped through the Swiss mountains under a glorious sunset. We reached our Hostel at 11pm and were greeted by Daniel “Saint” Livermore with packed dinners that we ate in curfew mandated silence while whisper arguing whether to stay up to watch the England match at 3am. After getting used to the triple bunks we headed to bed excited for Milan in the morning! Molly and Martha (altos)
  • Switzerland / Italy Tour Blog Day 1: following a sellout concert at @olemcambridge for @cambridgesummermusic, a flight cancellation at 12 hours’ notice resulted in an unexpected tale of two journeys, and hence two blogs…: Blog 1: GATWICK TO BASEL GROUP By the time the first half of Clare Choir had set off at 6:15am, their flight path had changed more times than the number of parts in Striggio’s “once in a lifetime (3 times in one week)” mass. In a heroic effort to ensure the continent did not miss out on Striggio’s masterpiece, Daniel “I slept in the office” Livermore had arranged a fleet of minibuses, seconded Graham “choir administrator in training” Ross to head up the other group, and travelled to Izzy “sleeping beauty” Theodosius’s house to awake her at 1:30am to inform her directly of the change in plan. But all was a success! The two minibuses were on the way to Gatwick and had just pulled onto the A14 when the familiar call of “I’ve forgotten my passport” was raised. After trekking to our beloved choir administrator’s house to retrieve his passport, the better half of Clare choir arrived at Gatwick ready for our flight to Basel! Apart from the mysterious disappearance of a pair of flip flops, the flight passed without issue and we travelled to Basel SBB to purchase our ruinously expensive Swiss train tickets on Maya “Switzerland’s No1 fan” Stubbing’s favourite app. We then enjoyed a gorgeous train journey through the Swiss alps which unsurprisingly many choir members slept through with Kathryn “I only speak French well when I’m drunk” Gallagher and Patrick “trilingual” Tweedie brushing up on their language skills. After a 12 hour travel day, we arrived in Lugano to be greeted by our very enthusiastic and friendly hostel hosts and proceeded to a restaurant overlooking the lake to have a delicious meal to round off an exciting, mainly train-based, first day. Most of all we really missed our two favourite choir members Zoe and Adam ❤️ Jess (Can sop) and Sophie (Can alto)
  • We’ve been busy! Our first week of summer touring last week began with a beautiful concert in Great Bardfield (where our Foundress Lady Elizabeth de Clare signed the Statutes of @clarecollege), two days of recording sessions for @signumrecords in London produced by @johnrutter.composer (👀 watch this space 💿), Graduation Day at Clare 👩‍🎓🧑‍🎓, a beautiful barbecue hosted by John and JoAnne Rutter, and three days of rehearsals with the musicians of Coro Clarière and @concerto_scirocco from Switzlerland ahead of our sellout concert together on Saturday evening for @cambridgesummermusic: the first of three performances of Alessandro’s Striggio’s enormous 60-part Missa Ecco si beato giorno. Switzerland and Italy beckon! Stay tuned for imminent blog updates…! 🇨🇭 🇮🇹 #ClareChoir #touring #summer

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cambridgemusic Cambridge Summer Music @cambridgemusic ·
4 Jul

An incredible rehearsal this afternoon for tonight’s concert - Spem in alium at OLEM. The Choir of Clare College, Coro Clairière and Concerto Scirocco sounded outstanding under Graham Ross & Brunella Clerici. A rare chance to hear Striggio, Gabrieli & Tallis @ClareChoir

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