The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

From the bright light of the low February sun on the snow to the Chapel in pitch darkness and with Elgar and Gabriel Jackson battling alongside Gibbons and Gesualdo, it has certainly been a week of contrasts.

We sang Evensong on Tuesday in memory of a recent Undergraduate of St John's. During the service, five minutes in, in fact, the entire College east of the River Cam lost its power, plunging the Chapel amongst other places into darkness. The Choir was about two thirds of the way through the opening Responses which they, of course, finished from memory. (We gather that neighbouring Trinity Choir also lost their power half-way through Evensong, though their organ couldn't power on as we did....) After a few moments wondering what to do, the Dean and Chapel Clerk together ensured that members of the congregation stayed put and were given candles for the rest of the service which went ahead as usual, albeit with some minor musical changes – the accompanied Tomkins canticles were out of the window and the Gents sang Lassus's Veni in hortum meum which, though unrehearsed, is a regular on Gent concert programmes and featured on our recent recording of Lassus. As is often the case, the service was almost more special than it would have been otherwise (even with the feast of countertenor solos that we missed) and we hope that it still provided a fitting tribute to the life of a loved member of the College community.

It was impressive that the College got the power back on ten hours later and fortunate too, given the impending dump of snow over the weekend which has given Cambridge and St John's a belated touch of Christmas and the Cam even tried to freeze over. Regulars in the Chapel and those who don't make it over to a service very often should be reassured that in this cold weather the Chapel heating is fully-functioning and services continue as usual. Various highlights for the coming week include a joint service with Caius Choir on Thursday, Wesley's epic romp The Wilderness on Saturday and the Cleobury Responses on Wednesday. There's also a service of Howells on Sunday evening and our own Director of Music, Andrew Nethsingha's organ recital before that. Take your pick.

Tickets for the St John Passion are selling fast – book now to avoid disappointment!