Rowan Williams backs calls to save choir scrapped by Cambridge college

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has backed calls to save an Anglican choir scrapped by a Cambridge college.

St John’s College announced that it would strip funding from the church choir St John’s Voices amid plans to fund a “broader” range of music.

The college also informed choristers that it would cut down on the number of chapel services held at St John’s to use the space for “civic engagement”.

Dr Williams, who attended Christ’s College as a theology undergraduate, has thrown his support behind a petition to save the ensemble, and put his name to an open letter which brands plans to disband the choir as “regressive”.

The petition has attracted almost 4,000 signatures.

In a note left on the online petition, he wrote: “I sang in lots of choirs at Cambridge when I was there.

“I wasn’t ever going to be a professional musician but access to the choral world made a huge difference to my life in all sorts of ways.

“This is a very short-sighted and unfortunate decision which will make it harder for today’s students.”

Gareth Malone, the musician and broadcaster, and Dame Sarah Connolly, the opera singer, have also called for the choir to be spared.

Diverse range of music

St John’s College initially told choristers that the choir would be disbanded to make way for a more diverse range of music.

In a more detailed statement, the college has since set out how it will deal with “students’ preferences and experiences in music today are different from those of previous generations”.

These include a scheme to provide music lessons for any St John’s student, along with musician-in-residence schemes, including for jazz and pop.

The college has also proposed “outreach and engagement programmes”.

To fund these proposals, the college has confirmed it will “redirect the significant resources currently devoted to St John’s Voices, its second chapel choir”.

The college also plans to cut down on chapel services to free up the space for “civic engagement”.

St John’s maintains a primary choir, founded in the 1670s, which will continue to operate.

The college stated that is following the recommendation of its students, saying: “A comprehensive review of music in college was recently completed.

“After considering the recommendations of the review, the St John’s college council made a unanimous decision to pursue a broader approach to other co-curricular opportunities in music for our nearly 1,000 students.

“This direction reflects our students’ feedback on their needs and aspirations, and takes into account the wider musical landscape in Cambridge and the UK education system prior to university.

“Students’ preferences and experiences in music today are different from those of previous generations, and many of them have had fewer musical opportunities in school than might have been the case in the past.”