King’s College is set to organise an all-female choir for the first time in its history, Varsity understands.

This follows years of frustration over limited opportunities for female choral scholars at the College and reflects shifting attitudes in Cambridge’s wider chapel music traditions.

The choir, which is yet to be formally announced by the College, will likely form in 2026 and comprise existing members of the College’s mixed-voice choir, King’s Voices.

In an email sent to members of King’s Voices and seen by Varsity, a job selection committee confirmed the appointment of Owen Elsley as the new permanent Assistant Director of Music.

The email confirmed that Elsley, alongside being in charge of “developing skills and repertoire with King’s Voices,” will be tasked with “opening up new opportunities for women’s singing with the new female ensemble”.

The College’s advert for the role likewise emphasised that a key duty would be “to pursue the development of an all-female chamber group comprising a selection of current members of King’s Voices, active in repertoire and performance outside and beyond the [existing] Chapel services”.

This new choir will become the third ensemble formally run by King’s, after the founding of King’s College Choir in 1441 and King’s Voices in 1997.

While the King’s Women and Marginalised Genders (KWMG) choir has existed since 2022, it was student-founded and student-run; this new group will be the first all-female choir established by the College itself.

Evelyn Nagy, an alto in King’s Voices, celebrated the news: “The men get their own choir – it’s about time the women do too! The creation of the new choir is definitely a good thing, especially since the additional training will benefit King’s Voices.

“Though I find being in the mixed choir deeply fulfilling, so don’t feel a pressing need to start a women-only group, I can see how creating one could be beneficial more broadly. I’m excited to see where it goes,” they added.

KWMG co-founder Lucy Gabb was more critical: “The decision to found the new choir has coincided with the College’s refusal to provide any funding for KWMG now that the two founders are graduated.

“KWMG was founded because its founders did not feel they were welcomed as female singers in King’s, and by not supporting the continuation of KWMG, which is centred on inclusivity, the College is taping over, not facing up to, these issues. Ultimately, women and girls must be allowed into King’s College Choir, and it’s really disappointing that, rather than making real change, King’s is continuing to uphold elitist, selective traditions with the creation of this new choir.”

In November, Varsity reported on female choral scholars’ frustration over the lack of investment into opportunities for them.

One source at the time described King’s Voices as a “pity prize for women,” while another claimed “King’s lull women into a lie that they can be women choral scholars”.

Elsley’s other main role will be to direct King’s Voices, the future of which had been uncertain since the dissolution of St John’s Voices last year.

More than a year ago, King’s set up a Working Group on College Choirs to review the future of its ensembles. Proposed in March 2024 by the Dean of Chapel and the Director of Music, the group was formed after a meeting with King’s Voices members in which female singers expressed frustration at unequal opportunities in College choral life.

Though students were excluded from the Working Group itself, the KCSU voted in April this year to support its recommendations of creating a permanent Assistant Director of Music and establishing a new women’s choir alongside King’s Voices.

A choral scholar told Varsity in November that the equipment was “falling apart” and that “the room allocated for KV rehearsals has notoriously poor acoustics”.

Now, several members of King’s Voices told Varsity that they viewed the creation of a permanent Assistant Director of Music also as an investment into securing the continuation of King’s mixed-voice choir.

According to multiple sources, Elsley will likely take up his position in Lent term, when the current interim Assistant Director of Music, Ralph Woodward, is set to step down – suggesting the choir will be launched at a similar time. However, the exact date of the handover is unconfirmed.

Elsley’s background includes extensive experience conducting, composing, and singing, including with the King’s College Choir, where he was a choral scholar and then lay clerk during his Master’s studies, which he completed in 2020.

The future of King’s Voices had been under question since St John’s dissolved its equivalent mixed-voice choir in March 2024, despite spending almost £1 million on its main choir that academic year. King’s and St John’s are traditionally viewed as having Cambridge’s most prominent college choirs.

Some students have argued in recent years that funding gaps between traditionally “elite” and “second-grade” choirs are increasingly unjustified. In May, King’s College announced that it had raised £5 million in donations for the men’s choir over the last seven years.

One female member of King’s Voices welcomed Elsley’s appointment, describing singing in the Chapel as “hugely rewarding” and sharing her view that “the situation doesn’t need to be changed; everyone enjoys their time here”.

Rich Mandal, president of King’s College Music Society and a tenor in King’s Voices, also celebrated the news: “KV is a unique and special part of the music scene in Cambridge. Ralph did a great job at making the choir more inclusive while maintaining its excellent standard, and we’re all very grateful for his tenure.

“With the future of KV appearing uncertain since the dissolution of St John’s Voices, it’s great to see College committing to keeping it alive with the creation of this permanent position. Owen is a great fit for the role and I look forward to working with him to support musical activities across the College,” Mandal continued.

King’s College was contacted for comment.