Support musical tradition in the making
Musical tradition is palpable at Cambridge. In 1464 the University awarded what is thought to be the world’s first BMus degree; early recipients included John Dowland and Orlando Gibbons. In 1684, it established one of the world’s first Professorships in Music, held by a succession of leading composers and scholars.
Yet traditions are not always as old as they seem. That Professorship only became a paid post in the 19th century, with William Sterndale Bennett and Charles Villiers Stanford putting the study of music on a firmer footing. Perhaps the most iconic of Cambridge’s musical traditions, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Chapel, goes back no further than 1918. The Music Faculty itself was established only in 1947.
It is the constant invention and re-invention of tradition, at Cambridge, that has resulted in today’s dazzlingly vibrant music scene, which encompasses period-instrument ensembles and jazz and gamelan orchestras alongside superb choral institutions and talented student orchestras. Our curriculum still emphasises traditional skills, but complements them with contemporary ones: our students write fugues, but they also create film soundtracks. Academic courses range from Machaut to Miles Davis, and from paleography to computational musicology.
Today, the Faculty is engaged in pioneering new initiatives such as the CMPCP (which bridges the worlds of academia and practical performance) and our Outreach programme, which takes our work out into the community. And for tomorrow, we have a visionary plan for further development.
To keep music at Cambridge as alive to the present as it is rooted in the past, the Faculty seeks the support of alumni, friends and music-lovers who share our conviction that music is too important to be consigned to tradition.
News and Announcements
You can support Music at Cambridge by making an online donation. Every gift counts, and, if you choose, you can direct your gift to specific areas such as Outreach or Performance.
You can find out about major partnership opportunities here, or by contacting us directly.