Singing Retreat

Tenors: bring a TENOR friend and SAVE £50 EACH!*

We’re excited to be returning to King’s College in 2024!  For this course you’ll stay in rooms within the main King’s College site, passing through the imposing Porters’ Lodge each day as we move between college chapels.

Delights in store include candle-lit Compline in St Catharine’s College chapel, singing Evensong in Clare and Pembroke College chapels, and a 3-course formal dinner. in Pembroke’s Old Library Out tutor team includes Dr Edward Wickham, Andrew Reid and Graham Ross. You will develop your voice and choral skills with daily vocal health sessions, and enjoy warm camaraderie with a friendly group of people who share your passion for choral music.

Our Singing Retreats are weekend singing courses designed to immerse you in the rich choral life of Cambridge, with accommodation in one of the historic colleges, and opportunities to sing in college chapels under the direction of experienced Cambridge choir directors. Alongside the choral workshops, you’ll enjoy complementary cultural and educational talks, as well as meeting new friends who share a passion for singing.  

Each choral course includes full group and chamber choir sessions, coaching on vocal health and singing technique, historical and repertorial expertise; and services in college chapels.

King’s College was founded by King Henry VI in 1441 and has continuously striven to uphold Henry’s love for ‘education, religion, learning and research’. King’s College Chapel is the most instantly recognisable and iconic building in Cambridge, with Rubens’ imposing The Adoration of the Magi (1633–34) standing over the main altar. In addition to being a place of daily worship, it is known globally for A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast live on radio to millions worldwide every Christmas. With beautiful lawns reaching down to the river Cam and an ornate Porters’ Lodge opening onto King’s Parade in the hearth of Cambridge, it’s a fabulous  setting for our choral course.  

Repertoire: “This Joyful Eastertide”
Our festal programme includes music by Thomas Tallis (Candidi facti sunt), Patrick Hadley (My beloved spake) and Charles Wood (This Joyful Eastertide), with canticle settings by Tallis and John Bacchus Dykes (the well-known hymn-writer and St Catharine’s College alumnus).

Experience this extraordinary world from the inside:

• Ensuite accommodation in stunning  King’s College (please bear in mind this is an academic setting rather than a hotel)
• Sing in iconic Cambridge college chapels, each with a different acoustic, feel and organ
• Work with world-class choral directors including Dr Edward Wickham, Graham Ross, Andrew Reid.
• Evensong and Compline under leading Cambridge choral directors
• Vocal health sessions to develop and sustain your voice
• Welcome drinks reception where you will have the opportunity to meet the other participants and the weekend tutors and staff
• Saturday night formal dinner with fine wines from the college cellar
• Complementary cultural and educational talks with academic specialists to give context and insights
• Time out to explore Cambridge

FEES: £795 full board, £570 non-residential

Student Scholars: we’re pleased to offer a limited number of Student Scholarships at reduced fees for singers aged 18-25yrs*. Please contact us for details.

Full course fee includes full board for 2 nights, all tuition, welcome reception, music hire, 3-course formal dinner with private dining and other activities.  All rooms are single occupancy and ensuite, single occupancy with tea and coffee making facilities. Bedding and towels are provided. 

* Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer

We will be seeking to create a balanced chamber choir.  Applicants should be experienced choral singers with good note-reading ability. 

Cambridge Chorał Academy is an independent organisation which contracts with Cambridge Colleges for the use of facilities. This event otherwise has no connection or association with the University of Cambridge of its Colleges

Photography credits: Jean-Luc Benazet and courtesy of King’s College