The Cathedral Choir

St Paul’s Cathedral has had a choir for nearly 200 years. The first choirmaster was Frederick Peters in the early 19th century and he led a mixed-voice choir at the cathedral – the singers were his brother and two sisters, together with another two men accompanied in each case by their own two sisters, making a total of eight singers in all (three men and six women).

Although the Anglican traditional practice over many centuries has been for all-male church and cathedral choirs, a practice which grew out of the earlier monastic traditions and one which was followed here at St Paul’s for most of its history,  there were also female voices in St Paul’s Cathedral choir in the 1950s although it was a short-lived deviation from the tradition.

In 1983, then Director of Music, Mervyn Games, again opened the choir up to girls as there was “simply not enough interested boys to keep the ranks full” and he believed that girls should have the opportunity to be exposed to the musical and life skills training that comes with the requirements to be a cathedral chorister.

This has been the practice at St Paul’s since that time and training for choristers is open to both boys and girls, usually from the age of 8, following a simple audition and an assurance of the necessary time commitment by the parents.

As you will read in the choir’s Mission Statement, the current cathedral choir at St Paul’s has a two-fold responsibility. Firstly it leads the music and worship at all cathedral liturgies throughout the year – apart from the choir holiday month of August, when the Eucharist is sung congregationally – and secondly it leads liturgies of the family of the Diocese of Huron when they are gathered together for Synod and Ordinations to the Diaconate and the Priesthood.

The choir also shares its musical ministry outside the cathedral when it travels to sing evensong or present a concert in the parish churches of the diocese – parishes who may be celebrating significant milestones in their history or perhaps just enjoying the opportunity to attend choral evensong.

The Choir’s adult membership is by audition, usually in September, although the Director of Music is always pleased to hear from interested singers throughout the year;  there are currently twenty-eight adult members, two choristers and three in training to join the choir as probationers.

In addition to regular Sunday morning liturgies, the choir presents a carol service on the evening of the 1st Sunday in Advent and the traditional King’s College, Cambridge service of Nine Lessons and Carols on the evening of the Sunday before Christmas. New in 2010 will be an evening of Music and Readings for Passiontide on Palm/Passion Sunday.

The choir is fortunate and delighted to be able to work in close collaboration with Angus Sinclair a former Associate Organist and Director of Music at St Paul’s as well as other leading musicians in the region.

The choir’s liturgical schedule may be viewed here, and the choir’s carol, concert and evensong schedule may be viewed here.

For a list of organists/directors of music that we currently know about, please click here and if you can provide any further information, we would be delighted to hear from you as we gather more historical data on the music at St Paul’s.

To contact the Acting Director of Music, please click here.