Winchester Cathedral Choir is an internationally recognized professional choir based at Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire. The choir currently consists of 18 boy choristers, 18 girl choristers and 12 lay clerks and sings eight services weekly in the Cathedral. Additionally, 18 girl choristers typically sing one service a week as well as concerts. Sometimes the group augments their numbers when certain musical works require a greater number of voices. The boy choristers all attend The Pilgrims' School where they study singing, music theory, music history, and at least one instrument in addition to general academic studies. The choir regularly tours internationally, has produced numerous recordings, and appears often in television and radio broadcasts. The choir is currently directed by Andrew Lucas, who assumed the post in an acting capacity in 2024. [1]
The exact year in which the chorus was founded is unknown, but it is likely in the 14th century. The earliest historical document relating to the chorus dates from 1402 when a John Dyer was named as the cathedral's organist and chorus-master. A 1544 statute by Henry VIII of England decreed that the cathedral should have ten boys in the choir and a single organist. [1]
There are also 18 girl choristers, who all attend local schools and sing at least one service a week during term-time. They sing with the boy choristers for most major concerts, at Easter and Christmas, and for the Southern Cathedrals Festival every summer (when they also sing with the girl choristers of Salisbury Cathedral). The girls have toured Europe on several occasions, and record CDs, both with the boy choristers and on their own. They have also appeared in many television and radio broadcasts, including singing live on BBC1 on Easter morning, and on Christmas Day. The Girls' Choir was founded in 1999 by Sarah Baldock, and is now under the joint leadership of the Acting Director of Music, Andrew Lucas, and the Sub-organist, Joshua Stephens.
Chester Cathedral Choir is the resident choir of Chester Cathedral, Cheshire, England. In common with most British cathedral choirs, the choir sings evensong daily during term time.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his Chapel, which remains the main task of the choir to this day.
George Guest CBE FRCO was a Welsh organist and choral conductor.
Andrew Parnell is an organist and harpsichordist.
Paul Miles-Kingston, is a British singer who achieved fame as a boy soprano classical singer.
The Choir of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle exists to sing services in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David, also known as St David's Cathedral, Cardiff, is a Catholic cathedral in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales, and is the centre of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
St. Paul's Choir School is a Catholic choir school located at St. Paul’s Church, Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1963, by Theodore Marier, the middle school for boys in third through eighth grades is the only boys' choir school in the United States of America affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, and one of the few church-affiliated choir schools in the United States. The Choir School educates and trains the choirboys who sing soprano in the choir of St. Paul's, a choir of boys and men. The choir sings for liturgical services at St. Paul's Church and performs primarily in and around the Boston area. It is located within the Archdiocese of Boston.
Winchester College Chapel Choir is an historic British boys choir that sings in the Chapel of Winchester College. It contains boys under age 12 as well as older students from Winchester College. The Choir has performed on the radio and on international tours.
The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge is part of the English cathedral tradition, having been founded to sing the daily liturgy in the College Chapel, though it is set apart from other English choirs of this tradition by the frequent inclusion of Continental works in its repertoire and its emphasis on polyphonic interpretations. Alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, it is one of the two most famous collegiate choirs in Cambridge, having had over 90 recordings published. The choir consists of fifteen Choral Scholars and twenty Choristers and Probationers, all of whom are members of St John's College, many of whom have proceeded to become distinguished musicians.
Katherine Dienes also known as Katherine Dienes-Williams is a New Zealand-born organist, conductor and composer. She is currently Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral and is the first woman to hold the most senior musical post in a Church of England cathedral. Her husband is Patrick Williams, librarian of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and they have a daughter, Hannah, who sang as a chorister at Guildford Cathedral.
The Choir of Leeds Minster is the choir of Leeds Minster, Leeds, England, which became a Minster in September 2012. The choir was founded by vicar, Richard Fawcett probably as early as 1815, and was certainly in existence by 1818. The church's choir - boys and men - was, from its origins, a charge on the church rate; and, in what was then a largely non-conformist town, a none-too-popular one. By the 1830s, the choir's resourcing had been taken over by a list of voluntary subscribers. On arrival as Vicar of Leeds in 1837, Walter Farquhar Hook said he found "the surplices in rags and the books in tatters". Additional to its extensive commitment in the provision of choral services, the choir is known to a wide public through many recitals, recordings and broadcasts and by its regular choir tours - the first tour was held in July 1968 and the 40th anniversary tour, from 22 to 27 July 2008, included singing in Ely Cathedral, King's College, Cambridge, the National Musicians' Church St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, All Saints Pastoral Centre London Colney and the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
The Southern Cathedrals Festival is a five-day music festival held in rotation among the English cathedrals of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury, in the penultimate week of July. The festival was restored in 1960 after initial attempts to create the annual occasion were followed by 28 years without it. The respective director of music acts as festival director when it is that cathedral's turn to host the event.
The Southwark Cathedral Merbecke Choir was established in late 2003 to provide a choir for ex-cathedral choristers to continue singing. It also comprises other young singers - often ex-choral scholars from university college choirs and student singers based in London.
Robert Quinney is Director of the Choir of New College, Oxford, and was formerly Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey and Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral. In addition to his work at New College, he has a freelance career as soloist, ensemble player, and writer on music. From October 2009 till 2014 he was Director of Oundle for Organists, whose residential courses provide tuition for young organists.
The musical foundation of Chichester Cathedral consists of the organist and master of the choristers, the assistant organist and the organ scholar; together with six singing men, eighteen choristers, six probationers – and including a head chorister and a senior chorister who both wear a notable medallion on a red ribbon according to their office held. The choristers and probationers are all boarders at the Prebendal School, the cathedral's choir school. The lay vicars are professional singers who all have everyday jobs.
Sarah Baldock is an English organist and choral conductor, formerly the Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral. She is notable as one of the earliest women to be appointed to the senior music post at a Church of England cathedral. She was married to counter-tenor David Hurley. Baldock has become known as a popular soloist in the UK and abroad.
The Choir of Salisbury Cathedral exists to sing services in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, England, and has probably been in existence since the consecration of the cathedral in 1258.
The S.F.X. Boys' Choir was a Catholic boys' choir that existed from 1994 to 2007. The choir received nationwide fame when the choir sang on the reworked version of The Farm's 1990 hit "Alltogethernow" and for gaining its place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 for being the first choir to sing in all 49 cathedrals and abbeys in England and Wales.
| board of directors = | choirmaster = | organist = | chief conductor = | orchestra manager = | choir admission = | orchestra admission = | affiliation = St Albans Cathedral | headquarters = Sumpter Yard, Holywell Hill, St Albans | associated groups = | website = stalbanscathedral