This great choral tradition continues to inspire visitors and worshippers alike, with daily services set to the music of great composers and sung in the unique English style. The Cathedral is host to regular musical events, from concerts featuring national artists and orchestras, to performances by local musicians and choirs.
Choral music has been one of the glories of this great cathedral for nearly a thousand years. It continues to form a key part of our daily rhythm of worship, helping deepen emotions and bring the words of sacred texts alive.
The one ‘Cathedral Choir’ is made up of Lay Clerks, girl choristers, and boy choristers.
The Cathedral Music Foundation is made up of this Cathedral Choir
and other Voluntary Choirs including the Junior Choir.
This long-established and internationally acclaimed choir includes Lay Clerks, girl choristers, and boy choristers.
You can hear them fill the cathedral with glorious music from all periods at six cathedral services weekly during term time and through festival periods. They may also have the opportunity to make recordings, broadcasts, concerts and international tours.
The Choir’s wide repertoire ranges from the plainsong chanted by medieval monks to commissioned works by modern British composers.
It broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio and TV, and also makes regular recordings.
It performs at concerts throughout the UK, including London’s Royal Festival Hall, and potential international tours.
About our Lay Clerks:
The choir includes 12 Lay Clerks who sing the alto, tenor and bass parts.
They are all well-respected professional singers, and are salaried members of the cathedral staff.
How to join:
All Lay Clerk vacancies are advertised on this website.
About our boy choristers:
Our boy choristers join us from all over the world.
They’re aged between 8 and 13.
They sing at seven to eight services a week during term time, and through festive periods, with half-hour rehearsals before each service.
All boys are educated at The Pilgrims’ School, the cathedral choir school, and take part in all school activities, academic, musical and sport.
All boys are offered a Choral Scholarship worth 40% of their full boarding fees and many go on to gain musical scholarships to their senior schools.
How to join:
The cathedral Music Department and The Pilgrims’ School are glad to meet with prospective choristers and their parents at any time during the year to discuss possible entry.
To find out more please contact:
01962 857219 or email choirs@winchester-cathedral.org.uk www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/worship-and-music
01962 854189 or email admissions@pilgrims-school.co.uk www.thepilgrims-school.co.uk/Winchester-Cathedral-Choir
Preliminary voice auditions can also be arranged at any time in the year.
All Lay Clerk vacancies are advertised in the Church Times and on this website.
About our girl choristers:
Founded in 1999, this choir is made up of around 20 girls aged 11–18, all from schools in the Winchester and Hampshire area. You can hear them singing a weekly Sunday service during term time, at services and concerts at Easter and Christmas, and on tours, recordings and broadcasts.
They rehearse twice a week and receive a generous scholarship for instrumental tuition.
How to join
Girls in school years 6 and 7 are encouraged to attend the Girl Choristers’ Open Afternoon and can audition from Year 6. Enquiries about informal auditions can be made at any time during the year. Formal auditions usually take place in March.
The Winchester Cathedral Chamber Choir consists of 25–30 singers of all ages from the surrounding area, making a rich and valued contribution to the cathedral’s musical life. You can hear them sing at selected services throughout the year.
If you would like to hear about upcoming services and concerts, the choir’s Facebook page will have regular updates.
The choir’s members include people from all walks of life, and is open to anyone over the age of 18 with a love of choral music.
The Chamber Choir sing at services and concerts during and outside of term time, mostly in the cathedral but also in the diocese and further afield.
The choir aims to complement, rather than duplicate, the cathedral Choir’s repertoire, singing a wide range of music.
If you live within the Diocese of Winchester and would like the Chamber Choir to sing a service at your church, please contact Joshua Stephens: Joshua.stephens@winchester-cathedral.org.uk.
How to join
The Conductor is always happy to chat with prospective members. Seeking adults of all ages with a love of sacred music, and the ability to adapt to different styles of music. Sight-reading skills and the ability to learn music quickly are also essential.
Entry is by audition – a prepared solo of your choice and sight-reading tests.
Click here to follow The Cathedral Chamber Choir on Facebook.
The Nave Choir is made up of around 40 singers, all drawn from the Cathedral congregation and friends. You can hear them sing at services that fall outside those covered by the Cathedral Choir.
Formed in 2007, this choir offers members of the congregation and friends the chance to take part in sung services
It sings at one service every school term, with Wednesday evening rehearsals in the weeks before the service
There is no audition to join the Nave Choir and all are welcome. Please contact Oliver.Morrell@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
The Winchester Cathedral Junior Choir was founded in September 2016. There are currently 52 committed members. The Junior Choir is a welcoming, kind and caring group. Chris Burton joined as Choir Director in April 2023 and is in charge of the running and development of the choir assisted by Keith Clark, and a group of parent volunteers, all of whom have gone through the DBS process.
Exceptional musical training is provided, with singing experience and performance opportunities for boys and girls from Year 3.
The Cathedral Junior Choir rehearse in The Wessex Learning Centre, behind No 9, The Close.
How to Join
There is no audition, and everyone is genuinely welcome, although it is an expectation that each member will be able to attend weekly rehearsals, be an enthusiastic singer and eager to learn. Each member is expected to be able to attend performances (see Commitment below).
Commitment
Tuesday evening rehearsals 5.45-7pm (during term time)
One Sunday service each half term
Additional services over Christmas and Easter
Annual Concert in second week of July
If you wish to attend, please complete both forms below, and The Cathedral Junior Choir will look forward to welcoming you.
Annual Junior Choir Form 2024-2025
Membership
Membership costs £40* per term and is due at the start of each term.
*bursaries are available, please contact choirs@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
For more information, please contact choirs@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
We welcome visiting choirs to the Cathedral during school holidays and for Wednesday Evensongs during term time.
Click here to view available dates.
Click here for our information pack.
To make a booking, please send a recent recording and a letter of recommendation from a previous cathedral visit to Visiting.Choirs@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
To find out more about the Choirs or how to join, please email
choirs@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
Winchester Cathedral gratefully acknowledges the support of the Cathedral Music Trust in awarding a grant towards its outreach and access choirs programme.
Britain’s choral tradition is rooted in its cathedrals’ monastic past, when monks would chant eight holy offices a day, sometimes joined by boy novices and relatives.
This singing of monks and boys together is first recorded in a remarkable historic manuscript, the 11th-century Winchester Troper (a trope was an additional section or line of music).
It shows one part chanting plainsong, while a second part, perhaps originally improvised, sings in harmony. The Troper is the oldest large collection of this kind of music in Europe, and the foundation of all western choral music.
Gradually, music featuring different parts sung simultaneously (polyphony) developed. This kind of delicate, more feminine singing, often was associated with the Blessed Virgin, was sung at her masses in Winchester Cathedral’s Lady Chapel.
As the Renaissance flowered across Europe, sacred choral music of great beauty was written down and sung in countless churches and chapels. It has influenced many great composers and remains hugely popular with choirs today.
By the early 1500s, at least 50 English monasteries and abbeys had choirs, but these were swept away in the 1530s, dissolved by order of Henry VIII in his dispute with the Catholic Church of Rome.
The new, reformed Church of England needed a new style of worship. The great 1549 Book of Common Prayer commissioned by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, remains the basis of Anglican worship today. For the first time, services were said and sung in English, not Latin.
Sacred choral music survived in the brilliant work of composers such as Thomas Tallis, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley and the celebrated William Byrd. Between them, they created a distinctive English style of great purity.
In the 17th century, the English Civil War (1642-49) led to 15 years of austere Puritan rule and harsh restrictions on the use of music in church worship. Ancient music books were destroyed, mighty organs wrecked and flourishing choirs disbanded.
But when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, cathedral music slowly returned to its former glory. John Blow, choirmaster of St Paul’s Cathedral, and his gifted pupil Henry Purcell began to create a uniquely English choral style.
The 18th century was a period of decline and underfunding, with many church choirs struggling to survive. But composers such as Samuel Wesley started a revival, and by the mid 19th century the use of music and ritual had been firmly re-established.
England is one of the sole remaining countries in Europe where cathedral choirs sing regularly as part of daily worship. This living tradition remains the envy of choir-masters around the world.
It also gives delight to countless worshippers and visitors to Winchester Cathedral today.
Webpage photo taken by Jim Pascoe in July 2024 at Southern Cathedrals Festival.
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