Directed by Anna Lapwood, The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College has one of the most exciting and varied ranges of choral endeavours among Oxbridge choirs. Alongside their primary responsibility of contributing to worship in the College’s Chapel, they engage in regular artistic collaborations, media appearances and outreach work.

In Cambridge, the Chapel Choir sings services and concerts as part of the broad portfolio comprising Music at Pembroke. In addition to regular weekly services, the Choir has at least one major concert per term, often performing classical master works. In recent years, highlights from concerts in Cambridge have included Bach’s Magnificat, Fauré’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria. They also sing a termly concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, most recently performing Allegri’s Miserere by candlelight alongside pieces from their upcoming album.

In December 2019, Pembroke Chapel Choir was featured in ‘Britain’s Christmas Story’ with Gareth Malone on BBC One. Other collaborations include recordings at Abbey Road Studios with Grammy-award winning composer Christopher Tin (2020), with singer-songwriter Tom Chaplin and concert appearances with Eric Idle and the Swingle Singers.

Outreach work is an integral aspect of the Chapel Choir’s tours. Their most recent tour took them to Thailand and featured musical workshops with over 500 schoolchildren, a visit to Pattaya Orphanage and a series of workshops at the Noh Bo Academy, a school for displaced children at the Thai-Burmese border. Every three years, the Choir travels to Zambia to run music workshops for local schoolchildren and to work in collaboration with Zambian music teachers to help train the next generation of teachers. This is made possible through an ongoing collaboration with the Muze Trust, with whom Director of Music Anna Lapwood travels to Zambia every year to continue developing the Choir’s relationship with Zambian musical communities.

Just as with international outreach work, the Choir can also be found hosting Cambridge-based events designed to make singing as accessible as possible within the local community. As part of the Pembroke Festival of Voice, the Choir runs annual ‘Come-and-Sing’ events, providing local singers the chance to sing major works alongside the Chapel Choir and Pembroke’s Choral Society, the Pembroke Singers. Once a term, the Choir hosts local schoolchildren to give them the chance to experience high quality music-making and sing alongside the Chapel Choir. The Choir is also heavily involved in the flourishing relationship between Pembroke College and Pembroke House, a settlement and church in Walworth (London). In addition to seasonal joint services alternating between Cambridge and London the choir works alongside the Pembroke Academy of Music to help bring musical opportunities to as many children as possible.