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New Millennium
Various composers

Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

New Millennium

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212075029
Catnr: SIGCD 750
Release date: 20 October 2023
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212075029
Catalogue number
SIGCD 750
Release date
20 October 2023
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

“Contemporary music and Commissioning have been central features of the last fifteen years at St John’s. It’s been a joy to work with talented student composers, singers and instrumental- ists; my own musicianship has been greatly enriched by their creativity and energy... After a 30-month break from sessions during the pandemic, we were very pleased to be able to record again in 2022. The material on this album comes from various times of year, whilst we were also continuing our Magnificat series. For the final sessions in December the outdoor temperature was forty degrees colder than it had been for the previous recording in July! The personnel of the lower voices had also largely changed, but I hope you will hear a successful continuity of sound- world. All the composers are alive today but, at the suggestion of one of them, we have omitted dates of birth so as not to intrude on their privacy. I’ve curated a sequence of music which aims to celebrate some of the broad range of styles in 21st-century choral writing. The premiere of Iain Farrington’s Nova Nova was the final piece in my last St John’s broadcast - I have often enjoyed pushing the boundaries of the Anglican choral tradition!”

Artist(s)

Choir of St John's College, Cambridge (vocals)

The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world, known and loved by millions from its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for its distinctive rich, warm sound, its expressive interpretations and its breadth of repertoire. Alongside these musical characteristics, the Choir is particularly proud of its happy, relaxed and mutually supportive atmosphere. The Choir is directed by Christopher Gray who follows a long line of eminent Directors of Music, recently Dr George Guest, Dr Christopher Robinson, Dr David Hill, and Andrew Nethsingha. The Choir is made up of around 20 Choristers and Probationers who are educated at St John’s College School and around 16 adult altos, tenors and basses who are members of the University of Cambridge. The Choir’s primary purpose is...
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The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world, known and loved by millions from its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for its distinctive rich, warm sound, its expressive interpretations and its breadth of repertoire. Alongside these musical characteristics, the Choir is particularly proud of its happy, relaxed and mutually supportive atmosphere. The Choir is directed by Christopher Gray who follows a long line of eminent Directors of Music, recently Dr George Guest, Dr Christopher Robinson, Dr David Hill, and Andrew Nethsingha.
The Choir is made up of around 20 Choristers and Probationers who are educated at St John’s College School and around 16 adult altos, tenors and basses who are members of the University of Cambridge. The Choir’s primary purpose is to enhance the liturgy and worship at daily services in the College Chapel. The Choir has a diverse repertoire spanning over 500 years and is renowned for championing contemporary music by commissioning new works. Recent collaborating artists have included Jonathan Dove, Iain Farrington, David Nunn, Helen Grime, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Judith Bingham, Julian Anderson, Anna Semple, Katrina Toner, Ignacio Mañá Mesas and Cecilia McDowall. The Choir also enjoys joining its period instrument ensemble St John’s Sinfonia to perform Bach cantatas in a liturgical setting.
The Choir brings the ‘St John’s Sound’ to listeners around the world through its webcasts, available at www.sjcchoir.co.uk. It has also live- streamed video broadcasts of Chapel services on Facebook, in association with Classic FM.
In addition to regular radio broadcasts in this country and abroad, the Choir releases recordings each year. In May 2016 the College launched its ‘St John’s Cambridge’ recording label in conjunction with Signum Classics. Since then 17 Choir albums have been released, including single composer albums of music by Jonathan Harvey (BBC Music Magazine Award winner), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Michael Finnissy, two of which were shortlisted for Gramophone Awards. In addition to these albums, there have been a further three Magnificat albums of varied Evensong Canticles, an anthem compilation Locus Iste, masses by Poulenc and Kodály, a live anthology The Tree, a Psalms collection, and seasonal albums for Advent, Christmas, Ash Wednesday and Eastertide.The Choir also performs concerts outside of Cambridge and tours internationally each year.
Recent destinations have included the USA, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong and Singapore.
It also performs regularly in the UK, with venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall, London.

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Andrew Nethsingha (conductor)

Performing as a conductor and organist in North America, South Africa, Far East, and throughout Europe, Andrew Nethsingha has been Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge since 2007. His innovations at St John’s have included weekly webcasts and a termly Bach cantata series.  His recordings for Chandos have been well reviewed. Andrew Nethsingha received his early musical training as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral, where his father was organist for over a quarter of a century. He later studied at the Royal College of Music, where he won seven prizes, and at St John’s College, Cambridge. He held Organ Scholarships under Christopher Robinson, at St George’s Windsor, and George Guest, at St John’s, before becoming Assistant Organist at Wells...
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Performing as a conductor and organist in North America, South Africa, Far East, and throughout Europe, Andrew Nethsingha has been Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge since 2007. His innovations at St John’s have included weekly webcasts and a termly Bach cantata series. His recordings for Chandos have been well reviewed.

Andrew Nethsingha received his early musical training as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral, where his father was organist for over a quarter of a century. He later studied at the Royal College of Music, where he won seven prizes, and at St John’s College, Cambridge. He held Organ Scholarships under Christopher Robinson, at St George’s Windsor, and George Guest, at St John’s, before becoming Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. He was subsequently Director of Music at Truro and Gloucester Cathedrals. Other recent positions have included Artistic Director of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival and Musical Director of the Gloucester Choral Society.

He has served as President of the Cathedral Organists’ Association. He has worked with some of the UK’s leading orchestras. Andrew’s concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra have included many of the major choral works: Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Britten War Requiem, Brahms Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Walton Belshazzar’s Feast, Poulenc Gloria and Duruflé Requiem. He has also worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, Britten Sinfonia, the Aarhus Symfoniorkester and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Recent conducting engagements have included the BBC Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Tokyo Suntory Hall. He regularly runs choral courses in various countries, including France and the U.S.A.


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Composer(s)

James MacMillan

James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music. MacMillan first became internationally recognized after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990. His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich and three symphonies. Recent major works include his St John Passion co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,...
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James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
MacMillan first became internationally recognized after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990.
His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich and three symphonies. Recent major works include his St John Passion co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Choir, his Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto, St Luke Passion and, most recently, his Percussion Concerto No.2 for Colin Currie, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
MacMillan enjoys a flourishing career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, praised for the composer’s insight he brings to each score. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until 2013 and was Composer/ Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 2000-2009; he has conducted orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. MacMillan was Composer in Residence at the 2012 Grafenegg Festival and a London Symphony Orchestra Portrait Artist in the 2009/10 season.
In spring 2014 MacMillan conducted three projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, culminating in a ground-breaking tour to India with Nicola Benedetti performing in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi including public concerts, schools concerts and outreach work. In the 2014/15 season, MacMillan conducts orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. In January 2015 he conducts a new production of his opera, Inés de Castro, at Scottish Opera and elsewhere this season conducts choral concerts in Sao Paulo and with the BBC Singers. In October 2014 MacMillan founded his music festival, The Cumnock Tryst, which takes place in his native Ayrshire.


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Cheryl Frances-Hoad

Admired for her originality, fluency and professionalism, Cheryl Frances-Hoad has been composing to commission since she was fifteen. Classical tradition (she trained as a cellist and pianist at the Menuhin School before going on to Cambridge and King’s College, London) along with diverse contemporary inspirations including literature, painting and dance, have contributed to a creative presence provocatively her own. 'Intricate in argument, sometimes impassioned, sometimes mercurial, always compelling in its authority' (Robin Holloway, The Spectator), her output – widely premièred, broadcast and commercially recorded, reaching audiences from the Proms to outreach workshops – addresses all genres from opera, ballet and concerto to song, chamber and solo music.  Her works include From the Beginning of the World, a setting of Tycho Brahe's remarkably...
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Admired for her originality, fluency and professionalism, Cheryl Frances-Hoad has been composing to commission since she was fifteen. Classical tradition (she trained as a cellist and pianist at the Menuhin School before going on to Cambridge and King’s College, London) along with diverse contemporary inspirations including literature, painting and dance, have contributed to a creative presence provocatively her own.
"Intricate in argument, sometimes impassioned, sometimes mercurial, always compelling in its authority" (Robin Holloway, The Spectator), her output – widely premièred, broadcast and commercially recorded, reaching audiences from the Proms to outreach workshops – addresses all genres from opera, ballet and concerto to song, chamber and solo music. Her works include From the Beginning of the World, a setting of Tycho Brahe's remarkably prescient thesis on the Great Comet of 1577 (BBC Proms, 2015), Pay Close Attention, a homage to electronic music gods The Prodigy, The Whole Earth Dances, a quintet influenced by the local landscape and the poetry of Ted Hughes (Spitalfields Festival, 2016) and Game On, a duet for piano and Commodore 64 inspired by Game Theory and the crimes of bankers (NonClassical at the Dalston Victoria, 2016).

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Press

Play album Play album
01.
O Give Thanks unto the Lord
06:19
(James MacMillan) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
02.
Sitivit anima mea
06:27
(David Nunn) George Herbert, Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Sophie Westbrooke
03.
Vertue: I. Vertue
03:47
(Judith Weir) George Herbert, Choir of St John's College, Cambridge
04.
Cedit, Hyems
03:02
(Abbie Betinis) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Anna Ryan, George Herbert
05.
Vanity of Vanities
05:08
(Ben Comeau) Joseph Hancock, Francis Bamford, Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Alex Semple, George Herbert
06.
O nata lux
01:43
(Piers Connor Kennedy) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
07.
Celebration
02:03
(Iain Farrington) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
08.
Alleluia, I Heard a Voice
04:16
(Janet Wheeler) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
09.
Leaf from leaf Christ Knows
03:56
(Judith Weir) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
10.
Conversations
02:22
(Iain Farrington) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
11.
Carmina mei cordis: I. Aeterna lux, divinitas
01:37
(Abbie Betinis) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Alasdair Austin, George Herbert
12.
Oriens...
04:48
(Anna Semple) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
13.
Quiet Stream
05:22
(Sophie Westbrooke) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Sophie Westbrooke, George Herbert
14.
Laudes
03:55
(Francis Pott) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
15.
Salvator mundi, Domine
06:04
(Alexander Hopkins) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
16.
oh pristine example
06:19
(David Nunn) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
17.
A Blessing
01:45
(Cheryl Frances-Hoad) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
18.
Nova, Nova
04:26
(Iain Farrington) Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, George Herbert
show all tracks

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