Cambridge choir sings in St Peter's Basilica

(Vatican Radio) Though there are no general audiences in the Vatican during the summer months, tourists and pilgrims continue to flock to St Peter’s, including many musicians and choirs who come for the unique experience of performing inside the Basilica.
Recently, the choir of Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, came to sing a programme of ancient and modern Mass music, under the expert eye of their musical director, David Skinner, a well-known researcher and producer of Medieval and Renaissance compositions.
Philippa Hitchen caught up with David and with choir member Camilla Wehmeyer, to find out more about the group and about their 10 day Italian tour….

Listen:


David: “There are 31 colleges in Cambridge, Sydney Sussex was the last to be founded among the older colleges, so the first was founded in 1209 and Sydney Sussex was founded in 1596……traditionally the musical colleges are Kings, St John’s, Trinity and it’s only since we’ve raised money for a musical directorship….that we’ve been able to explode musically and now we’ve got a choir which stands alongside the best in Oxford and Cambridge…..
The English choral tradition really got going in the 15^th century, then of course the Reformation happened….but we maintained this tradition….and Cambridge probably has the most concentrated set of choral musicians anywhere in the world…..”

Camilla: “I came to Cambridge because I love the choral tradition and wanted to study music academically….specifically my interests were in early music…..growing up in a Christian household I was first introduced to choral singing with the local church choir…..”

David: “The first half of our programme explores music of the Renaissance…..particularly music that would have been known in Rome, so Palestrina, Clemens non papa, Josquin, composers that we know worked and sang in the Sistine Chapel……so it’s very exciting for us to sing Mass in St Peter’s Basilica…..
Certainly the connection between the Catholic and Anglican Churches is really for me mainly musical because it all comes from the Catholic Church if you look back…..England has taken over in terms of church music but now, elsewhere in the world, they’re catching up…certainly 20 years ago there were few Italian or Spanish, Southern European choirs but now some fine ensembles are beginning to appear so I feel we’re coming together because of the musical tradition….

Camilla: As a group the choir came together from all different backgrounds and it really is music that brings us together and it’s great as a group of young people to have new experiences – for example when we went to Dubai and sang a Christian programme, we found it was music which crosses all barriers….”