The audience in Jesus College Chapel for Over The Bridge's Christmas Concert

Cambridge’s male close-harmony group delivered a Christmas concert with a twist at Jesus College says Holly Willis

Over the Bridge is gaining quite a reputation as an accomplished group, known for playful arrangements of popular songs and pitch-perfect harmony, all in abundance at last night’s Christmas concert. If I tell you that a bunch of terribly English-sounding bright young men in tuxedos sang an unaccompanied version of Ghostbusters you’d be forgiven for cringing at the idea but their execution was so good and so full of charm that they completely pulled it off.

It was an eclectic programme with everything from traditional carols such as In the Bleak Midwinter and Ding Dong Merrily On High, to pieces from choir repertoires such as Morten Lauridsen’s achingly beautiful O Magnum Mysterium, plus off-piste songs including Everybody Wants to be a Cat thrown in for good measure. This did feel rather hap hazard, but after the first few bars of whichever song they happened to be perfoming it was easy to forget the programme and simply relax and enjoy the music.

The audience was asked to join in on some rather tricky pieces including Adam Lay Ybounden, which deserved to have been in the safer hands of Over The Bridge rather than given to the audience, but we had fun trying none the less and that is rather the point.

Soloist Cressida Sharp provided exquisite solo singing and a welcome female voice while the organist James McVinnie played with tremendous skill but star of the night was Nicholas Mogg whose baritone voice managed to blend with the group when needed then leap out at you in solos.

If you are bored by traditional concerts and want to have a little fun without compromising on musicality I recommend catching Over The Bridge in their next Cambridge Summer Recital, or keep an eye out for their CDs recorded with the likes of John Rutter and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra no less.