The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

St John’s Sinfonia was set up in the College's Quincentenary. The Sinfonia is a professional ensemble consisting of leading instrumentalists from around the country and is led by our Musician in Residence, Margaret Faultless.

The aim is that the ensemble should vary in size and style in accordance with the needs of particular repertoire or performance occasions. Many of the Sinfonia’s performances will be on period instruments. Plans for the next twelve months include performances and a recording of Purcell and further Bach performances with the College Choir, including the St John Passion. The College Choir and St John’s Sinfonia recorded a disc of Mozart masses in July 2011 and of Purcell in January 2012, both for the Chandos label.

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Margaret Faultless

Margaret has developed a significant presence at Cambridge University alongside directing other projects at European conservatoires and universities. This was initially through the foundation of the Cambridge University Collegium Musicum, the University's first period instrument orchestra, of which she is an Artistic Director. In 2010, following a visiting fellowship at Girton College, she was elected a Bye-Fellow of the College and has now taken up the new roles of Musician in Residence at St John's College and Director of Performance Studies at the Faculty of Music.

Margaret is a violinist and director and Artistic Director of Devon Baroque. Performing music from Monteverdi to the present day, she is particularly well known for her interest in performance practice. Since 1989 she has been a co-leader of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, working with Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Mark Elder, Ivan Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in venues from London to Glyndebourne, New York, Tokyo and Salzburg. She directed the orchestra on its first trip to Mexico and at the gala re-opening of The Royal Festival Hall, and regularly directs the orchestra in baroque repertoire. She also serves on the orchestra's Board of Directors.

In addition to OAE, Margaret has directed Britten-Pears Baroque, the European Union Baroque Orchestra (of which she is Director of Studies), Philharmonie Merck and The Harmony of Nations on European tours. In 2008 she directed the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra in a series of concerts and will return there in 2011. She will also direct the Symphony Orchestra in Lisbon next year. Margaret appeared as guest leader of the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston in a BBC Proms concert and in 2008 was in Moscow with Vladimir Jurowski to coach and lead the Russian National Orchestra in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. She coached the Zurich Chamber Orchestra at the invitation of Sir Roger Norrington, and has been a guest leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For over twelve years Margaret led the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman, including leading the ten-year project of performing and recording the complete Bach cantatas. She made her BBC Proms debut as soloist with the ABO in 1997.

In 1996, together with her husband Simon Whistler, she founded the ensemble 'Music for Awhile'. In addition to instrumental programmes they perform English baroque opera, masques and theatre music; and have created new works using poetry with music. The summer festival at Alton Priors and series of chamber concerts enjoy a very special place in the musical landscape of the area. For ten years Margaret was a member of The London Haydn Quartet, whose CD of Haydn string quartets Opus 9 on the Hyperion label was hailed as 'one of the great Haydn quartet recordings.' The Opus 17 discs were released in 2009. She also appears as a duo with pianist Adrian Partington, performing, in particular, the sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms and exploring performance practices up to and including the world of Elgar.