Churchill Music Society (ChuMs)

Orchestra on the Hill is a combined orchestra of Cambridge’s ‘hill’ colleges: Churchill, Fitzwilliam, Murray Edwards, Magdalene, Girton, Robinson, St Edmund’s and Lucy Cavendish.

A student run-orchestra, it has built up an enviable reputation for innovative programming, as well as playing some core popular repertoire. Previous concerts have included: Handel’s Messiash (joint with Hill Chorus Choir), Saint-Saëns’ Organ Concerto, Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, Dvorak’s Hussite Overture, Beethoven’s Third Symphony, a wide range of film music, Corelli’s Christmas concerto and Sibelius’s Karelia Suite, and the orchestra have packed out Murray Edwards’ Dome, Fitzwilliam’s Auditorium and Churchill’s Wolfson Hall and Chapel.

The orchestra is open to any member of the University, especially to members of the ‘hill’ colleges, who play an orchestral instrument, usually to a standard of approximately grade 8 and above.

Rehearsals are on Sunday afternoons (1pm – 4pm) in the Music Centre at Churchill College. We perform a concert towards the end of each term, with a “Composers’ Concert” each Easter, where we play new music submitted by members of the university.

The Inter Alios choir sing alternate Sundays at their two colleges, serving as the Chapel Choir to the ecumenical Chapel at Churchill, and hosting a unique ‘Music and Words’ event in Murray Edwards that combines choral music, poetry and a short address on a topic pertinent to the human experience. ‘Inter Alios’ literally translates as ‘among others’ and speaks to the collective spirit. We are proudly inter-faith, inter-collegiate, and international.

Our weekly alternation, under the musical direction of conductor and composer Dr Ewan Campbell, exposes the choir to probably the broadest and most diverse repertoire of any Cambridge college choir. In addition we seek to juxtapose well-known choral works with contemporary repertoire, and particularly music by female composers. In recent years we have premiered works by Errollyn Wallen, Stef Conner, Anna Semple and a host of student composers.

The choir’s annual schedule increasingly includes trips outside of Cambridge to perform in cathedrals such as Ely, Rochester and Canterbury, and 2020 will include our first tour. We are regular contributors to the Brandenburg Choral Festival, in venues such as St Martins in the Fields, and have made recordings in the Churchill College recording studio, both a cappella, as well as with the Orchestra on the Hill. Within our colleges the choir sing at important feasts, and dine on high table once per term at each college.

Jazz in the bar is a termly event containing mostly Churchill students who play jazz, generally in the Churchill bar but also at the college garden party and other events throughout the year.

If you’re interested in Jazz events or playing during Jazz in the Bar, please contact the Music Sizar or Jazz Rep.

You can find out more about Churchill College Jazz Band on their website.