The Choir of Kings College London, Kristina Arakelyan & Joseph Fort
Biography The Choir of Kings College London, Kristina Arakelyan & Joseph Fort
The Choir of King’s College London
is one of the leading university choirs in England, and has existed since its founding by William Henry Monk in the middle of the nineteenth century. The choir today consists of some thirty choral scholars reading a variety of subjects. The choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong offered during term, as well as various other services. Services from the chapel are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. The choir also frequently sings for worship outside the university, including at Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral.
In addition, the choir gives many concert performances. Recent festival appearances in the UK include the Barnes Music Festival, Cowbridge Music Festival, London Handel Festival, Oundle International Festival, Presteigne Festival of the Arts, Ryedale Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Spitalfields Festival, and the Christmas and Holy Week Festivals at St John’s Smith Square. The choir enjoys a longstanding relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra, which in 2025 became Ensemble in Residence at King’s. The choir tours widely, with recent destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA.
The choir has made many recordings, in particular for Delphian Records. Recent recordings include portrait discs of music by contemporary composers Kristina Arakelyan, Kerensa Briggs and Edward Nesbit (the latter recognised as Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’). Their recordings have also championed the music of twentieth-century British composers such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gustav Holst and Kenneth Leighton. These recordings have received wide critical acclaim; one was described as ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Marc Rochester, Gramophone). The choir was the partner choir for Choir & Organ magazine’s 2023 New Music Series.
Following some twenty years under the leadership of David Trendell, the choir has been directed since 2015 by Joseph Fort.
Joseph Fort
is College Organist & Director of the Chapel Choir, and Senior Lecturer in Music at King’s College London, where he directs the Choir of King’s College London in chapel services, broadcasts, recordings, concerts and international tours. The Choir’s performances under his direction have been recognised as ‘English choral singing at its best’ (Choir & Organ) and ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Gramophone). In 2021 he was appointed Director of Music at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, where he conducts the acclaimed professional choir.
Recent orchestral conducting includes performances with Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the London Mozart Players. Festival conducting appearances across the world include the Festival de México, the White Nights Festival of St Petersburg, the Montreal Organ Festival, the London Handel Festival, the St Albans International Organ Festival, and the conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Joseph is known for his innovative and creative programming, and his track record of eclectic commissions ranges from new Canticle settings to large-scale works for choir and electric guitar. His expansive discography with Delphian Records has received considerable critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice and the ‘best new classical albums’ selections in Gramophone. Particular focuses have been around contemporary repertoire and neglected early twentieth-century British music. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.
Joseph holds a PhD from Harvard University, and his academic research focuses on eighteenth-century music and dance. He has published in a number of journals and his monograph Haydn’s Minuets and Eighteenth-Century Dance will be published by Cambridge University Press in September 2025. Prior to Harvard, he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was the organ scholar, and at the Royal Academy of Music, who in 2017 elected him to their Associateship.
