Music & chapel
During the last few years Jesus has enhanced its reputation as one of the most musically active Colleges in Cambridge.
The College Music Society runs termly orchestral concerts with very varied programmes ranging from Bach to Gershwin, and organises informal chamber concerts. Lunchtime and evening recitals are a regular feature of College life. The Chapel provides a beautiful setting for concerts, and there are two music rooms and several small practice rooms which may be booked for individual practice or for playing chamber music. The College offers an Organ Scholarship in two years out of three, and instrumental awards annually for players of any orchestral instrument or any keyboard instrument other than the organ.
The Chapel Choir is unique in that it alternates between boys’ and women’s voices, the men taking part all the time. The all-male choir is one of only three College choirs of its kind in Cambridge, and, unlike the others (at King’s and St John’s), it recruits trebles from local schools rather than maintaining a choir school. There are regular choral evensongs, and the choir is highly regarded in Cambridge: services are occasionally broadcast by the BBC.
The Director of Chapel Music, assisted by the two Organ Scholars, is responsible for Chapel music in consultation with the Dean of Chapel. Choral Awards (plus excellent tuition) are available, while other benefits include tours abroad, visits to English cathedrals, and concert performances, with the odd College feast thrown in free. The Organ Scholars need not be reading Music for their degree – although they often are – and Choral Award holders are drawn from all subjects.
Many other ensembles, including a swing band and a gospel choir, thrive at the College. It’s more than likely that you’ll find someone who shares your taste in music, however obscure it may be. With the increasing number of musicians coming to Jesus, musical activity of all kinds seems destined to flourish.
The College is fortunate having an exceptionally ancient and beautiful Chapel. There in term twice daily services maintain a rhythm of prayer, including four choral evensongs and a Sunday morning eucharist each week, and a pattern of occasional services marks the passage of the College’s year. The Chapel follows the Anglican tradition, and the worship is designed to be accessible to those from a wide variety of backgrounds – all members of the College, whatever their religious backgrounds are welcome to attend any of the services and to take from them what they can. The Dean and Chaplain are responsible not only for the life of the Chapel but also for oversight of the pastoral care of the whole College community, and they are happy to talk to any member of the College in confidence on any matter.
