About Us
Collegium Regale (Latin for
‘King’s College’) is the close harmony group made up of the
Choral Scholars of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.
As Choral Scholars we sing the daily routine of chapel
services throughout term as well as undertaking a busy
concert and recording schedule in the vacations, often
working with leading orchestras notably the Academy of
Ancient Music. The Choir is of course most famous for the
broadcasts of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on
BBC TV and Radio each Christmas, which reach an estimated
120 million people worldwide.
Collegium Regale however functions as a separate entity
from the main choir and is run entirely by the members of
the group itself. It performs regularly around Britain,
touring each Easter in two groups, North and South, and in
the past has performed as far afield as Canada, the United
States and Hong Kong.
Building on our experience from the main choir, the group
has excelled in performance and recording of early
renaissance polyphony. Having established a relationship
with record label Signum Classics, the group has released a
series of discs promoting little known and
under-appreciated composers from the European Renaissance.
The 2006 recording of music by Orlando Lassus in particular
met with great critical acclaim, receiving five star
reviews from The Times and The Telegraph, the latter
newspaper also listing it in its top ten discs of the year.
The 2008 recording of music by Giaches de Wert was
similarly well received and is also notable for the fact
that much of the music on it was transcribed for the first
time by a member of the group making the performances of
many of the pieces the first since the late 16th century.
Our traditional repertoire aside, however, Collegium Regale
also exists to perform more contemporary material. From
spiritual songs to Michael Jackson, these are almost always
arranged within the group and give us a chance to sing
outside of the ‘classical music’ box. Each summer the group
performs this repertoire to around two thousand people on
the banks of the Cam and it forms a mainstay of our
performance material throughout the year. The group’s
recognition as non-classical singers is growing and recent
engagements include singing as principal backing vocalists
for the English rap artist Dizzee Rascal at the BBC
Electric Proms in London, and following on from this for a
live session on MTV.
After leaving Kings, many members of Collegium Regale seek
to continue a career in music and the group boasts an
impressive array of alumni. The baritone Gerald Finley and
the tenor Andrew Kennedy are both former members, as is the
conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the Director of English
National Opera, Edward Gardner. Perhaps the most famous
close harmony group in Britain, The King’s Singers, was set
up by an especially keen year of Choral Scholars in 1968
and former choral scholars grace the ranks of almost every
professional choir in the UK today from The Monteverdi
Choir, The Sixteen and Polyphony, itself set up in Kings in
1986, to the Swingle Singers.
Unlike these groups however Collegium Regale faces a
constant challenge that its membership is in a perpetual
state of flux. Indeed, as The Times once wrote of us ‘the
mystery is how the choir achieves its gorgeous blend with
such transitory albeit overlapping personnel’. In some ways
this can be a weakness for the group, but in other respects
it is a tremendous strength for each year heralds a fresh
set of voices and ideas about where the group should go;
that it has flourished for so long is testament to its
ability to change in new and interesting directions whilst
retaining its high standards of musical integrity.
For information on how to hire Collegium Regale for your event click here