WHO’S WHO

Matthew Martin (Precentor and Director of Music)

Matthew Martin is Precentor and Director of Music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge where he directs the College Choir and is a fellow in Music. He was an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford, before studying at the Royal Academy of Music with David Titterington and Naji Hakim, and (privately) with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. Matthew spent much of his early life immersed in cathedral music and in 2010, after six years as Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, he decided to focus more on composition. Since then he has been commissioned to write music for a number of leading ensembles including the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, The Sixteen and The Gabrieli Consort. He is active as a conductor and organist and has regularly appeared as a guest conductor with groups such as the BBC Singers and the Academy of Ancient Music. As a recitalist, he has given concerts for the St Albans International Organ Festival, the London Baroque Festival and plays the organ in concerts for The Tallis Scholars and the Gabrieli Consort. In 2022 he was commissioned to write a new carol (Angelus ad Virginem) for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, and is currently working on three major new works for The Tallis Scholars to be performed in the USA during 2026/27. These Votive Antiphons – Salve Regina, Felix namque and Gaude gloriosa – are to be performed in the USA during 2026/27 and are co-commissioned by Princeton University and the Miller Theatre in New York. Prospective applicants are welcome to arrange an informal audition by contacting Matthew at: precentor@cai.cam.ac.uk.

Jack van den Heuvel (Peter Walker Organ Scholar)

Jack van den Heuvel is a second year classics student at Gonville and Caius. He commenced his studies in organ with David Goode, James Orford, Christopher Allsop and Ann Elise Smoot, having been awarded an academic and music scholarship to Eton, where he also accompanied the choirs in regular chapel services. He achieved his ARCO in January 2024, winning four prizes, and he is a keen pianist, cellist and composer outside of the organ scholarship. He is now taught by Stephen Farr and Martin Baker.

Thomas Blew (Wilfrid Holland Organ Scholar)

Thomas is a first year music student at Gonville & Caius College and Junior Organ Scholar. He studied under Douglas Blew at St Olave's Grammar School, and accompanied services as Organ Scholar of St Giles-the-Abbot, Farnborough, and as Associate Organist of St John the Evangelist in Bromley. Thomas was a prizewinner in the 2025 ARCO examinations and has given various organ recitals including at Southwark Cathedral and The King's Chapel of the Savoy. He is also a keen viola player and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra. He continues his organ studies with Stephen Farr and regularly accompanies the choir at Caius. 

Claire Wheeler (Choir & Chapel Administrator)

Claire is the Choir and Chapel Administrator at Caius. She read Music at Royal Holloway (University of London) where she sang in the chapel choir, and worked in music publishing before taking up the post at Caius in 2011.

Telephone: 01223 332411
Email: choir@cai.cam.ac.uk