About CUMS
CUMS is one of the oldest and most distinguished university music societies in the world. It offers a world- class musical education for members of the University and local residents, nurturing the great musicians of the future and providing performing opportunities for over 500 Cambridge musicians every year.
The Society has played a pivotal role in British musical life for almost 170 years. It has educated such luminaries as Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Gardner, Christopher Hogwood and Robin Ticciati, has given world or UK premieres of works by Brahms, Holloway, Lutoslawski, Maxwell Davies, Rutter, Saxton and Vaughan Williams, and has exposed successive generations of Cambridge musicians to visiting conductors and soloists including Britten, Dvorak, Kodaly, Menuhin and Tchaikovsky. Since the 1870s, CUMS has enjoyed the leadership of several of Britain's greatest musicians, including Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Philip Ledger, and from 1983 - 2009 Stephen Cleobury.
In 2009 Stephen Cleobury assumed the new role of Chorus Director, and Sir Roger Norrington was appointed as Principal Guest Conductor. Martin Yates, 'one of the most exciting and versatile British conductors of his generation' in the words of The Times, recently joined the team as Orchestra Director; and a Great Conductors
Series was launched this year with the objective of exposing CUMS members to a succession of world-class visiting conductors. In February CUMS entered another new phase of its development when it merged with the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra and Cambridge University Music Club. In October 2010 the Society will launch the Cambridge University Lunchtime Concerts - a new series of weekly chamber recitals at West Road Concert Hall showcasing the University's finest musical talent. CUMS continues to provide opportunities for the University's finest student soloists and conductors by awarding conducting scholarships and concerto prizes, and it actively encourages new music by running a composition competition and premièring at least one new work each year.
Recent highlights have included the world premiere of The Sorceror's Mirror, a major new CUMS commission from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Sir Andrew Motion, the opening concert of the 2009 City of London Festival tours to Prague and Tuscany, choral concerts with Stephen Cleobury, the Philharmonia Orchestra and soloists including Bryn Terfel in Cambridge and at the Royal Albert Hall, and performances of Mahler's monumental Symphony of a Thousand at Ely Cathedral under Stephen Cleobury and of Britten's War Requiem at King's with David Hill.