The Gonville and Caius choir will make its debut in Singapore and will be performing a one night only concert at the Victoria Concert Hall this Christmas. They will perform some of the most famous songs and motets across the ages under the title "Ave Maria" such as by Bach/Charles Gounod, Mozart's Ave venum corpus and Purcell's O dives custos. The choir will also sing carols old and new. The organ solos feature Christmas melodies from around Europe, Switzerland, Scotland and Spain.
The college was founded in 1348 but the musical tradition stems from the late nineteenth century when the well know composer of church music Charles Wood became organist. The Choir in Wood's day contained boy trebles, it is now a mixed undergraduate ensemble and has been directed by Dr Geoffrey Webber since 1989.
The choir sings Chapel services during the University term and has a busy schedule of additional activities, including concerts, recordings and broadcasts, including live broadcasts on BBC Radios 3 and 4. The Choir's recordings have often specialized in the re-discovery of forgotten choral repertories, including previously unpublished music from within the English Choral tradition and beyond. Their recent CDs include 'In Praise of St Columba', exploring the sound-world of the early Celtic church using ancient instruments, and 'Romaria' a recording of modern Brazilian choral music.
Concert work has included appearances at many of the UK's leading Festivals such as those at Spitalfields and Aldeburgh, and the choir has toured extensively across the world, either with its full complement of 24 singers or in smaller groups. For this tour the choir will comprise 12 singers and an accompanist.
