“Are you local?” we were asked, as we considered the canapés at the Christ Church drinks reception at New York's Carnegie Hall on 4 October.

“Ur, no, not really,” came the answer.  

Our devotion to and admiration for the outstanding Christ Church Cathedral Choir was made clear to all those we met, along with a family from California who had travelled a similar distance. Their journey was nearly 3,000 miles and ours was only 500 more.  (I am sure there is a Proclaimers joke to be made there, but jet lag precludes me…)

I had so many answers to the question of “Why?” 

At the Christ Church Association Open House on Saturday 19 September, I had taken the opportunity to rehearse and sing Evensong with the Cathedral Choir and was still suffused with the warm glow of such an extraordinary experience. I feel like a distant cousin of the choir after that glorious afternoon of rehearsal and participation alongside fellow alumni. Singing Howard Goodall’s (1976, Music) version of 'The Lord is My Shepherd' along with the young choristers from the Cathedral School, was something I will never forget (along with the person who started applauding, alone,  from somewhere behind us).  

Then there was the Wigmore Hall concert in January 2026: a concert of music so divine that I still remember the feeling of being transported, in every way imaginable, by the tone, tune and texture of the sound. The elegant location complemented the performance.  We felt so privileged to be part of the audience.   

And another huge draw … our American friends. At college in the mid-80s we met a pretty extraordinary group of Americans who we are proud to count amongst our friends and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see them on their home ground.    

And college friends; the trip to New York was a great excuse to travel and stay with great friends we have known now for 40 years.  The concert was the draw, the motivating factor to bring us together and to reconnect.   

And the concert did not disappoint. Director Peter Holder held the stage in the Zankel Hall, guiding the choir with absolute precision through John Taverner’s 'Christe Jesu, pastor bone' and the Western Wynde Mass.   

The second half contained a wonderful treat: after the joy of hearing 'A Litany' from the inimitable William Walton ('Drop, drop, slow tears…') we were fortunate to hear the New York premiere of Nico Muhly’s 'The Shadow of the Sun'. We were sitting next to his parents and they were so, so proud of their son’s work and rightly so.  Nico is composer-in-residence at Christ Church and despite being born only a couple of years before I matriculated he already has a fantastic career behind and ahead of him. An American contemporary classical composer, he’s known for bridging traditional sacred choral music, American minimalism and indie pop collaborations (Bjork, Sufjan Stevens and more). And bridge it he did. His parents’ joy was entirely justified and shared by us all; the compositions were at once, sacred, minimalist and indie-chic. 

This year has celebrated 500 years of music at Christ Church and shared it with so many of us at home and abroad.  It has served to bring people together and share the richness of a glorious choral tradition that, in the hands of Peter Holder, Nico Muhly and the talented members of the choir, seems fit to go from strength to strength, uniting alumni around the globe for hundreds of years to come.  

Kim Littlemore (1985, PPE).