Stephen Layton is to stand down as Director of Music of Trinity College Cambridge after 17 years and many acclaimed recordings. His last concerts in the post will be on a tour to Germany this summer, performing the Duruflé Requiem.

‘The time has come for me to move on from Trinity College Cambridge and pursue my own guest-conducting career, something I have always hoped to do,’ said Layton, whose concerts in the coming weeks alone include performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (its annual St John Passion) and, after Easter, conducting Polyphony and Britten Sinfonia at The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

‘It has been a joy and an exceptional privilege to work with The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge for so many years. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved together. Beyond the services, discography, technological advances and touring successes, it is the students who form the major part of my legacy: those members of this extraordinarily gifted group who changed the nature of a ‘college choir’ into a leading artistic professional beacon on the world stage. I warmly wish them rich success for the future and I know that they will go from strength to strength.’

Under Layton’s leadership the choir has been very active on record, as well as embracing live-streaming and more recently video live-streaming of services.

Recent recordings include: Finzi choral works, an Editor's Choices in September 2019 ('it really is Trinity at their absolute best', wrote Alexandra Coghlan); in 2018 albums of music by Owain Park - an organ scholar at Trinity under Layton - and a recording of Bach's B Minor Mass; and in 2016 a celebration of Stanford's links with Trinity, another Editor's Choice release. Meanwhile, their recording of Howells Requiem won the Choral category in the 2012 Gramophone Awards. 

Gramophone very recently shared a beautiful recording of Duruflé's Requiem by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, filmed in 4K at the Church of St Eustache, Paris, which you can enjoy again below.