The Cathedral Choir is made up of boys and girl choristers aged 8 to 13 along with eight professional singers known as Lay Clerks. The Cathedral Choir sings at the Sunday morning 12noon Solemn Mass and on major events of the year, such as Advent, Christmas, Holy Week and Easter.
Repertoire ranges from music by the medieval abbess St Hildegard von Bingen, through to 21st Century compositions by Cecelia McDowall and James MacMillan.
The original Cathedral Choir was formed in 1848 when the Cathedral was opened, and it sang during the visit to the Cathedral of Pope John Paul II in 1982. The current Director of Music is Jonathan Schranz was appointed in January 2019 and previous Directors have included Nick Gale and Norman Harper.
Our choirs play a special part in the Cathedral's community and they occasionally broadcast to a wider public on BBC Radio and TV, most recently at Christmas Midnight Mass in 2015 live on BBC One and on BBC Radio 4 in 2019, as well as Sunday Worship in January 2017.
Choristers
Boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 13 sing in the Cathedral Choir each Sunday, singing with the Lay Clerks at the 12noon Solemn Mass. Choristers rehearse weekly and receive training in vocal technique and musicianship. CD Recording opportunities as well as joint singing and social events with other church choirs occur regularly and the choir has been broadcast to the wider public on BBC Radio and TV in recent years.
This experience comes at no cost to families and is open to children from all types of social background. Membership of the choir is by audition and these can be arranged throughout the year in consultation with the Director of Music. If your son or daughter is aged between 8 and 13 and has a passion for singing then we would love to hear from you. Older children will be considered for the Cathedral Consort and younger children for the Cathedral Junior Choir.
To join the choirs, please sign up on our Join the Choir page.
Lay Clerks
The back row of the Cathedral Choir is made up of eight professional singers known as Lay Clerks. They sing with the choristers at the 12noon Solemn Mass each Sunday and for solemnities days on their own, joined by adult sopranos. The Music Department keeps a list of auditioned deputies. Professional altos, tenors and basses with strong sight-reading ability and familiarity with Gregorian Chant are encouraged to contact the Director of Music at cathedralmusic@rcaos.org.uk for further information.
