Choir leaves after concert tour

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 8

Choir leaves after concert tour

Damian Jones, aged 13, left, and Benjamin ByramWigfield, aged 12, catch a few minutes rest at Christchurch Airport on Saturday. The boys are members of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, which left Christchurch early this morning after a two-concert tour of New Zealand. It is the first time the world-renowned choir, which traces its history back to 1441, has toured this country. It is also the first

time the choir has toured under the directorship of Stephen Cleobury. Mr Cleobury was appointed as the school’s director of music last October. There had been no problems on the trip and the audience response had been magnificent, he said last evening. Both concerts, in Wellington on Friday evening and at the Christchurch Town Hall on Saturday evening, were sold out weeks ago.

The choir includes 16 choristers, aged between nine and 13, and 14 choral scholars, who are undergraduates at King’s College. Also travelling with the choir are the headmaster and matron of the college school, an organ scholar, and Mr Cleobury’s wife and two children. The choir was founded by Henry VI in the same year as he founded King’s College itself. The authorities at the school guarded the choir’s tradition

jealously and valued it highly, said Mr Cleobury. Most of the choir members were seasoned travellers, he said. The choir toured Japan last year. Auditions are held each year for the choir and attract the top young singers from throughout Britain. The boys leave the choir when their voices break about 13, most gaining music scholarships to public schools. Some return as undergraduates to the col-

lege. Two of the choral scholars with the touring party were King’s College choristers. The choir will travel from New Zealand to Sydney for two concerts then will return to Cambridge for a brief holiday before the Middlemass term As well as singing for the services in the college’s chapel, the choir has made several recordings and television performances. It was brought to New Zealand by the Music Federation.