TCCA News & Events

This page gives details of previous and upcoming events concerning the Choir and the TCCA.

Choir calendar

Thursday 18th March (see below)

6.30 for 7.30pm Cadogan Hall - Choir concert and reception

Please do come and support the Choir at any of these concerts or services. For further details of these and other events being planned, check the Choir Concerts page on the Trinity College website.

Choir concert and reception - Cadogan Hall - March 18th, 2010

The College extends a warm welcome to all alumni - but especially those from the TCCA - to a drinks reception and choir concert at Cadogan Hall in London. There will be music from Bach, Pärt, Whitacre, Tallis, Holst, Stanford and Laurisden. The concert description from the programme is below:

"The choir concert is entitled 'Nocturne' and is a beautiful programme of choral music inspired by the magical hour of twilight. As the sun sets and the day turns to dusk, choirs around the country gather to sing Evensong in candlelit chapels."

The reception at Cadogan Hall is from 6.30pm and the concert starts at 7.30pm. The reception is free and we have reserved 60 tickets for the concert for Trinity Alumni. These are £30 each and may be booked by calling the Cadogan Hall Booking Office directly on 020 7730 4500 and saying that you are from the 'Trinity College Alumni Association'.

The address of Cadogan Hall is 5 Sloane Terrace, London, SW1X 9DQ. Below is a link to a map of the area, along with public transport details: http://www.cadoganhall.com/howtofindcadoganhall.html

The concert by the Trinity choir is one in a series of concerts that Cadogan Hall have organised around the theme 'Lux Aeterna' and they are offering a 15% discount if you book two or more concerts in this series. Further details regarding the other concerts in this series may be found by calling the Booking Office or by going to the Cadogan Hall website at http://www.cadoganhall.com/index.php.

If you would like to attend the reception before the concert please reply by email or telephone the Alumni Relations Office on 01223 761 527.

We look forward to seeing you at what will no doubt be a wonderful event!

The TCCA produces an excellent periodic newsletter which you can download in Acrobat PDF format by clicking below. This contains full details of all notable TCCA and Choir news and events from the previous year, with editorials, features and photography. It is intended also to include news of members' notable post-Trinity musical achievements - please keep us informed of any such planned or recently past events by contacting newsletter@trinity-choir-association.org. Previous editions of the Newsletter can be found on the Archive page

Click here for a PDF of Edition 3 (5.0MB file) - Winter 2008

We would love to get something from you. Edition 3 includes articles by choral members from 1941, 1962, 1991 and 2003 (a pretty good spread by any reckoning). So dust off those nostalgic memories, get the pen (keyboard?!) out and send us your recollections or views. Any of the contact points sprinkled around this site will be happy to get your contribution.

Annual Gatherings

In line with its new alumni drive, the College has recently increased the number of Annual Gatherings it holds. This means that the choir is not always now available to sing at them, given that more fall outside of term. Last summer, on 31 July, 2009 (1974-76), and 19 September (1994-95), while the Choir were touring in the USA, the College again asked the TCCA to provide the choir to sing at Evensong and from the gallery at dinner afterwards.

This formula is due to be repeated in 2010 on Friday, 30 July (for those coming up between 1986-87) and Friday, 3 September (for those coming up between 1988-89) and if you would like to register an interest in singing on either of these occasions please contact the Membership Secretary (Selene Webb), who is coordinating the list at: sjw32@cam.ac.uk This will entail a mid-afternoon rehearsal, Evensong at approximately 6.30pm and dinner from 8pm until late. Accommodation will be available.

I sang in the first of these (which happened also to be my Gathering year) and in subsequent years and can state, unequivocally, that it is a wonderful opportunity to sing and mix with your fellow-choristers across the generations. 2008 included folk from long ago (me-1962!) up to 'just gone down', as well as ladies from the first female choral contingent and people currently singing in the absolutely top ensembles of the moment. So, don't be shy - at least contact Selene to express an interest (dinner is good too - as you probably recall!).

TCCA gathering

The second gathering of the TCCA took take place on 14 March, 2009. A talk by the Chaplain about the stained glass windows in Chapel was followed by the unveiling by the Master of two boards in the Vestry listing past Organists/Directors of Music and Deans of Chapel (see picture on left). After tea and cake, over 40 former Choir members joined the current Choir in a choral evensong, singing Parry's 'Blest Pair of Sirens'. Drinks in the Master's Lodge then preceded an excellent dinner for TCCA members and the Choir in the Old Kitchens.

Click here for details of the inaugural event, held on 1 July, 2006, (see picture on the right) which also celebrated the work of Dr Richard Marlow on the occasion of his retirement as Director of Music at Trinity.

2009/10 recordings

The critically acclaimed 2009 recording of three of Handel's Chandos Anthems made with Emma Kirkby and the Academy of Ancient Music has been followed up this year by a wonderful CD of a selection of contemporary Baltic choral music - 'Baltic Exchange'.

All the recent recordings demonstrate the outstanding versatility and quality of the Trinity Choir, with critics queuing up to praise the performances, voting them 'record(s) of the week/month'

Each CD can be ordered directly from The Music Office, Trinity College, Cambridge, CB2 1TQ by sending a cheque for 13.99 (including post & packing) made payable to 'Junior Bursar Trinity College'. Ordering in this way is to the benefit of the Choir.

Full details of all the Choir's extant (and 'out of catalogue') recordings are available via the Discography page.

The last two recording sessions under Richard Marlow's direction were of choral music by Elgar and Cantiones Sacrae by Peter Philips.

The Elgar has been released on the US label Gothic, based in Washington State; and it is hoped that the Philips may shortly be released by Chandos. Watch this space - and for more details check the Discography page

Finally on the recording front comes the news that SONY Music (owners of the old Conifer catalogue) finally decided to reissue some of the Trinity back catalogue. They have concentrated on the anthologies and compilations - and who can blame them! So far released over the last year are: Miserere; Carols from Trinity; Hymns from Trinity; Stairway to Heaven; A Vaughan Williams Hymnal; Britten - A Ceremony of Carols; Rejoice in the Lamb. These are all mid/low price releases

Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Sunday has become a significant entry in the Trinity choral calendar. 2007 (Duruflé), 2008 (Fauré), and 2009 (Duruflé again) saw performances by choir and TCCA members of a Requiem embedded in the day's proceedings. These performances have been very successful, with between 30 and 40 extra singers each time, and generate a great sense of occasion. It is planned to repeat the event in 2010 - so watch this space.

A report of the 2008 event is included in the recent Newsletter, and it was an occasion to treasure. This splendidly atmospheric photograph by Gerald Place is of the augmented Choir preparing for the performance. For another picture click here

If you have any noteworthy news, please do let the Chairman know via chairman@trinity-choir-association.org and/or the Chapel Office secretary@trinity-choir-association.org, for possible inclusion in the next newsletter.