Cambridge college choir scrapped to make way for diverse genres

‘The British choral tradition is something that St John’s should be leading, not diminishing’

A CAMBRIDGE college is embroiled in a row over plans to scrap an Anglican choir to make way for more diverse musical genres.

St John’s College has announced that it will strip funding from its church choir, St John’s Voices, as it plans to fund a “broader” range of music instead. The mixed male and female choir will disband at the end of the current term. The college will also cut down the number of chapel services held at St John’s to use the space for “civic engagement”.

Members of the choir, which has made several recordings of sacred music, are understood to be dismayed by the news and are set to launch a petition to demand it is spared.

One student told The Telegraph: “St John’s College has a near 400-year history of choral music, only 10 of which have included women. The British choral tradition is something that St John’s should be leading, not diminishing.”

Choristers have not been informed which styles of music will be promoted instead of their own and told The Telegraph that the process of the choir’s disbandment has not been transparent.

The decision emerged following a 2023 review of activities at St John’s by the college’s leadership, which the choristers themselves have not even seen. The decision to cut down on chapel services was also informed by the same internal review.

Messages seen by The Telegraph state: “Keeping Mondays free of regular services will allow other uses of the space and allow the Dean and Chaplain to progress student programmes for civic engagement and faith.”

St John’s Voices was founded in 2013 as a choir female students could join, complementing the long-standing St John’s College Choir, which has itself started admitting women and girls.

The director of the choir is a paid role currently held by Graham Walker, whose position is understood to be in doubt.

In 2020, Sheffield Cathedral scrapped its choir and replaced it with a new team of choristers “ready for the exciting future of the mixed urban community in which we live and work”.

Critics told the BBC the decision was handled “appallingly” and that the cathedral had been trying to make the choir less white and male. The dean at the time, Peter Bradley, resigned soon after the decision was made and former choristers set up a “choir in exile”.