Boris Ord composed one tiny Christmas carol – ‘Adam lay ybounden’. But Ord’s largest contribution to the carol genre was his work as choirmaster at King’s College, Cambridge from 1929 to 1957.
This lecture shows how Ord built on Arthur Mann’s pioneering work with King’s Choir and created a singing style that transformed choral performance internationally.
The radio broadcasts of the King’s Carol Service under Ord’s directorship were legendary, and the 1954 television broadcast of the service was a game-changer.
Given Covid-19, we are live-streaming all our lectures online in 2020-21 and aim to re-introduce in-person lectures gradually as social distancing rules change.
To attend lectures online, please register using the button above. This also allows us to let you know how to book in-person tickets when they are reintroduced. The registration process is simple, free, and only requires an email address.
Jeremy is Visiting Gresham Professor of Music History.
He is the Sterndale Bennett Lecturer in Music at the Royal Academy of Music. He also chairs the Academy's Continuing Professional Development Programme.
He has delivered the annual Christmas carol service at Gresham College since 2014. In 2019, he was made Visiting Professor of Music History.
Professor Summerly's lecture series are as follows:
2020/21 100 Years of BBC Radio
2019/20 Making Music
All lectures by the Visiting Professor of Music History can be accessed here.
