Little Saint Mary’s Church, Cambridge

The Parish Choir

LSM choir at Easter 2014

The Parish Choir consists of adults and students drawn from across the City and the University, and sings at High Mass every Sunday, and at important feasts and festivals throughout the Church year. The adults of the Parish Choir perform regularly with the Church's boy and girl Choristers. It has established a reputation for high musical standards, and alongside its regular duties has in recent years taken on a range of exciting projects. 

Rehearsals take place on Friday evenings throughout the year (apart from a summer break in August) . The Choir also meets to rehearse one hour before all  choral services.  Entry is via a relaxed, informal audition, and the Director of Music, Andrew Reid, is always delighted to hear from anyone interested in joining. Choral scholarships for young singers wishing to develop their abilities and experience may be available from time to time.

The Choir has released two CD recordings, both available for purchase from this website — as also are two CDs of the LSM Organ. In 2009 the Choir made its first CD, the première recording of Sir Arthur Somervell’s (1863-1937) Passion of Christ. In 2014 the Choir published His Sweet Art, a CD of choral settings of metaphysical poetry, celebrating LSM's historic connections with the poet and priest Richard Crashaw and taking its title from a well-known poem by George Herbert. The Choir is committed to the performance of a wide range of repertoire, including the commissioning and performing of new works, among them two works recorded for the first time on their latest CD.

The Choir regularly works with other local musicians and choirs, and in recent years the Parish Choir has sung services and concerts with the choirs of Peterhouse, Gonville & Caius and Emmanuel Colleges. They have participated in workshops with Christopher Robinson CVO CBE (formerly Director of Music at St John's College, Windsor Castle and Worcester Cathedral), Welsh vocal coach Hilary Jones and the distinguished Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan CBE. The Choir works regularly with Sarah MacDonald (Director of Music at Selwyn College and Honorary Associate Organist at LSM).

The Choir tours both within the UK and abroad, including visits to sing services at Norwich, St Edmundsbury, Ely and Peterborough Cathedrals and further afield to Brussels and Rome.  In 2015 the Choir went on tour to Prague, where it sang services at St Clement's Church and St Lawrence's Old Catholic Cathedral (sv. Vavřince) and gave concerts in the churches of Martin ve Zdi (Prague) and sv. Jakuba (Kutná Hora). Footage from these performances can be seen here.