St John’s Voices launches petition against ‘fundamentally regressive’ disbandment

St John’s Voices (SJV), the mixed-voice choir of St John’s College, Cambridge has launched a petition calling on the college to reverse the decision to disband the group. The petition has been published alongside an open letter signed by hundreds of members of the UK’s classical community, and current SJV members and alumni.

The letter described the decision to disband the choir as ‘a fundamentally regressive move for the College, the choral community in Cambridge, and the wider arts provision for women in the UK.’  The college’s main choir, SJV’s sister choir, became the first Cambridge or Oxford college to welcome female singers in 2022, but admits only female altos.

The loss of SJV therefore means soprano students of the college have lost the opportunity to sing in chapel choral services. In the open letter SJV also points out that, while the main choir ‘has only one student member who identifies as female, SJV has 14, each of whom is losing her opportunity to sing in the College chapel.’

In the open letter SJV also describes the process leading up to this decision as ‘unreasonable’, stating that the college had decided to disband the choir before any consultation with its students and choristers.

The letter has been signed by hundreds of members of the UK’s classical music sector including Sir Simon Rattle, John Rutter CBE, Marin Alsop, Anna Lapwood MBE, Dame Sarah Connolly DBE, Eric Whitacre, Dr Nigel Short and broadcasters Alexander Armstrong, Aled Jones MBE and Gareth Malone OBE.

St John’s College, Cambridge released its own statement yesterday (21 March), stating the decision had been taken following ‘a comprehensive review of music’ in the College which will now ‘redirect the significant resources currently devoted to St John’s Voices’ towards ‘wider opportunities in music for more members of St John’s’ alongside ‘plans to develop a programme of non-musical activities in the Chapel’.

The College closes its statement by saying: ‘The upset this decision has caused to the St John’s Voices community is regrettable. The decision is in no way a reflection on the high standards achieved by the choir and its director, Graham Walker. The College will provide support to members of St John’s Voices who wish to identify and secure alternative choral and accompanist opportunities. There will be time next term to pay tribute to all that they have achieved in their ten-year history.’