St John’s Voices, the mixed-voice choir of St John’s College, Cambridge has been disbanded, with its music director Graham Walker made redundant. The change will come into effect at the end of this academic year.

St John’s Voices was formed in 2013 to support the work of the St John’s college choir, and performs weekly evensongs in the College Chapel, plus concerts, tours and a collection of successful recordings released on Naxos.

In a social media post published today on X (formerly Twitter), the choir said: ‘We were devastated to hear yesterday that the college has decided to disband SJV at the end of this academic year. We are so proud of what we have achieved and will miss singing together every Monday. Thank you for your support.’

St John’s Voices’ sister choir, the college’s main choir under the then Director of Music Andrew Nethsingha, began to welcome girls alongside the boy trebles in 2022, becoming the first Cambridge or Oxford college to do so, but it admits only women altos. With the loss of St John’s Voices, soprano students of the college will no longer be able to sing in chapel choral services at St John’s.

The choir’s most recent album, Chesnokov: Sacred Choral Music was released in 2023 on Naxos, which Choir & Organ's Philip Reed called 'gorgeously blended and resonant'. The group also received a Gramophone Critics' Choice in December 2020.

stjohnsvoices.org