Petition mounted to save Cambridge College choir

St John’s Cambridge is to abolish its mixed-voice choir, with the redundancy of it Director of Music, Graham Walker, the college has announced.

The choir, St John's Voices will close at the end of this academic year in June 2024.

The Master of the college Heather Hancock, a former civil servant, has taken the decision following the inclusion of girl choristers and female altos in the main college choir, which was previously all male.

The move has provoked widespread outrage on X/Twitter, in particular as it now means women have nowhere to sing. 

An open letter from the choir has been sent to the college council and a petition set up to save the choir, both of which have been signed by high profile industry figures, including conductor Marin Alsop, musician and broacaster Gareth Malone and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rt. Rev. Dr Rowan Williams.

It says: "We are devastated by this decision, which we believe is a fundamentally regressive move for the College, the choral community in Cambridge, and the wider arts provision for women in the UK.

"We are calling upon you, the College leadership, to revoke this decision and to allow St John’s Voices to continue singing Evensong under Graham’s directorship… Disbanding the choir will dramatically reduce the opportunity for College students to engage in quality music and worship in their own chapel, it will cut the number of female students who sing in the chapel from 15 to 1, and it will significantly diminish the presence of St John’s in the Cambridge choral scene."