Early Music at Girton
Over recent years Girton has become a significant focus within Cambridge for early music. As its recordings demonstrate, Girton College Chapel Choir has long had a striking affinity with Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, but the appointment of world-renowned violinist and director Margaret Faultless as Bye-Fellow has given a spur to the college's engagement with early music. She was joined in 2011 by Nicholas Mulroy, one of the most sought-after singers in the early-music 'world'. (Nicholas regularly serves as Evangelist for conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and John Butt.) Girton also enjoys a close association with His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts. Jeremy West, a founder and director of this ensemble, is Musician in Residence at Girton, and both he and His Majestys are closely involved in the musical life of the college.
In recent years several major concerts of early music have been given at the College. In 2010 a performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, Cambridge University Collegium Musicum, and choral scholars from Clare, Girton, Gonville and Caius, King's, and St John's Colleges was staged to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Monteverdi's masterpiece. In March 2011 the Collegium Musicum and a group of leading choral scholars presented a performance of Bach's B minor Mass at Girton. Smaller-scale performances of Baroque instrumental and vocal music take place on a regular basis, sometimes within the context of services in Chapel where Bach cantatas are frequently performed, sometimes in the context of special occasions, such as the concert given in July 2009 for HIH Princess Takamado of Japan.
For several years now Girton has also hosted the internationally acclaimed group Ensemble Xacona (first- and audience-prize winners in the 2006 Bruges Early Music Competition) in a residency at the College. The group, which is directed by former Girton student Molly Marsh, visits the college on an occasional basis, giving concerts and coaching students. Ensemble Xacona has joined with the Chapel Choir in several projects including a performance in London of Bach's St John Passion with soloists including James Bowman.