“I would happily sit in King’s College Chapel listening to this choir sing for the rest of my days.”

The Times

Founded in the fifteenth century the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups — every Christmas Eve millions of people worldwide tune into A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols that has been broadcast each year by the BBC since 1928. While the choir exists primarily to sing at the daily church services of King’s College Chapel, their worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to invitations to perform throughout the world, and to an extensive international tour schedule.

In recent seasons the Choir has travelled throughout Europe as well as to the US, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Recent performances have been given at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Settembre Musicale in Turin, Teatro alla Pergola (Florence), Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa), Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Rheinvokal Festival, Stuttgart Barock Festival and the Hong Kong Cultural Center, to name just a few. In December 2005 the Choir undertook a tour of the United States including performances in New York City and Washington DC. They will return to the US over Easter 2008.

The Choir also performs extensively in the United Kingdom and has appeared regularly at all the major halls in London and in the regions. The Choir closed last season appearing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, London.

In the future King’s look forward to appearances at the Gothenburg Church Music Festival, Istanbul International Music Festival, the Athens Megaron, Singapore Esplanade, Tallinn International Organ Festival and the Beethovenfest Bonn. In the UK the Choir will be returning to both Manchester and Birmingham, as well as singing in the Newbury, Lufthansa and Swansea Festivals.

The Choir records exclusively for EMI Classics and is delighted that this relationship has been extended through to 2011. On Christmas Day, a recording of new carols commissioned annually by King’s College, has received tremendous critical acclaim with BBC Music Magazine commenting “King’s College, Cambridge, is a byword for the very best in Christmas music”. In 2004/5 the Choir's recording of Rachmaninov Liturgy of St John Chrysostom was nominated for a Grammy Award, the critic in The Gramophone magazine greeting the recording as “without a shadow of doubt, a triumph”, adding that “there is no comparable rival to this disc”. In the Autumn of 2006 EMI Classics will release a recording of Brahms’ Requiem in the composer’s unusual arrangement for Choir, soloists and piano (four hands). Future plans include the Eton Choir Book, a new work by John Tavener and an early English music collaboration with Fretwork.

Recent additions to the discography include a Purcell disc Music for Queen Mary with the Academy of Ancient Music (In the repertoire on this new disc... Cleobury, King’s College, and the AAM prove currently unbeatable — BBC Music Magazine), John Rutter’s Gloria with the CBSO, an album of Gregorian chant, several discs of baroque music with the AAM, Rachmaninov’s Vespers (which won the first ever Classical Brit Award), and a live recording of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. A DVD, Anthems from King’s, has been released following a DVD of Carols from King’s, which also contains historic footage of the Choir.