The first of 3 pages of text from the Director of Music, Graham Ross. Summary:
It's Christmas Eve, and I woke this morning at my in-laws in Belfast after a considerably more comfortable night's sleep than our marathon 20-hour journey home through the night yesterday from the snow-laden Black Forest, via every conceivable mode of transport...
Festive touring in December requires energy and commitment. Over the last month we have given 12 performances in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands, after a full academic term of 25 services and concerts on our home turf, as well as 2 BBC broadcasts.
Why do we do tour? Sharing our music making around the globe has always been an important part of our schedule, and something that I've always firmly believed in. Over 15 years of international tours with different generations of Clare Choir I've seen time and time again the direct benefits for the group as a whole and for its individual members. Unlike professional choirs and consorts on the circuit, a Collegiate Chapel choir that is part of an academic institution has a change of personnel every year. It's perhaps easy to forget that just twelve weeks ago the Clare Choir of 2024/25 hadn't even met.
This year there were 17 new members of the Choir. Those first few weeks of the academic year are absolutely crucial: there is a need for real focus and hard work from the word go; a need to hone and shape the collective sound into the Clare model; a need to develop a group that listens to and respects each other; and a need to create an outfit that can deliver day in, day out, in an incredibly short period of time. The Choir comprises around 30 individuals, but we are very much a team, and this is nowhere more apparent than when on tour.
It's hard to put into words what it is to nurture and witness the musical journey that my students make from that first rehearsal together in October to standing ovations like those we received this last month. Our music making hopefully brings something special to our audiences. I think this is particularly important at this time of year, which can be difficult for some. One audience member came to me in tears after one of our concerts last week, explaining personal circumstances as to why our performance meant so much to them. If one person feels moved by our performances, then we are doing something right. If perhaps 6000 people can feel something similar, then for me that perfectly sums up why we do what we do. Touring helps to develop life-long friendships, and | have in my students a fantastically close-knit group who care deeply about what they do and who look out for each other (snowball ferocity notwithstanding).
I owe a huge amount of thanks to all those behind the scenes who enable us to do what we do: our agents, our overseas promotors, our recording label, Mark our Dean, Gabrielle our Head of Chapel Office, and, in particular, Daniel our brilliant Choir Administrator who navigated us all so smoothly from country to country. But, as ever, it's my singers and organists who should accept most of the praise here for delivering night after night performances of outstanding musicianship, for serving as ambassadors for Clare College, and for creating life- long memories for both performers and audiences alike.
And so now for some much-needed rest before it all starts again next month. Thank you to all our friends and supporters around the world who joined us this year; we look forward to seeing you again in 2025. I'll be starting my New Year about as far away from Cambridge as it gets, as Scott Polar Research Institute’s Musician in Residence in Antarctica, but already know that on my return to Clare in February I will be reunited with one of the most gifted, hardworking and talented university Choirs in the land. I can't ask for more than that.
Graham Ross (Director of Music)
Smiles all round in this photo of the Clare College Choir with Graham Ross, December 2024.
The choir of Clare College Cambridge posted has been touring in Europe, returned exhausted but happy, and posted these reflections from music director Graham Ross on Why They Do It.
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