Biography
Canterbury Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, dates back to its founding in 597 and ranks among the earliest Christian buildings anywhere. Since that beginning, choral music has accompanied worship there, at times performed by Benedictine monks. The present Canterbury Cathedral Choir comprises 25 boy choristers, 12 lay clerks, and a girls’ choir of roughly 20 members founded in 2014 that has already drawn wide attention. These ensembles appear on their own and, for especially important services, combine forces.
The boy choristers, aged eight to 13, live in the historic Choir House beside the cathedral. Full scholarships cover their education at St. Edmunds School in Canterbury, where they follow a standard curriculum while also studying two instruments and music theory. They take part in every weekly Evensong except Wednesday, when the lay clerks sing alone. The 12 lay clerks—four basses, four tenors, and four countertenors—work as professional singers on a part-time basis yet maintain a rigorous schedule that includes both Saturday and Sunday duties. The Girls’ Choir sings Evensong twice each month, frequently joined by the lay clerks. Members range from 12 to 18 years old and attend schools throughout Canterbury and the surrounding area.
David Flood serves as the current director of the Canterbury Cathedral Choir and conducts open auditions each autumn for both the boys’ and girls’ groups; five or six singers from each ensemble reach the upper age limit annually and are replaced. Although the choir’s discography remains smaller than those of Britain’s larger cathedral ensembles and consists chiefly of occasional releases devoted to liturgical and seasonal repertoire, the international profile of the Girls’ Choir secured a contract with the Signum label and coverage in BBC Music Magazine. In February 2018 the girls and the lay clerks issued the album Great Cathedral Anthems, which presents works from the Renaissance as well as the 19th and 20th centuries.
The boy choristers, aged eight to 13, live in the historic Choir House beside the cathedral. Full scholarships cover their education at St. Edmunds School in Canterbury, where they follow a standard curriculum while also studying two instruments and music theory. They take part in every weekly Evensong except Wednesday, when the lay clerks sing alone. The 12 lay clerks—four basses, four tenors, and four countertenors—work as professional singers on a part-time basis yet maintain a rigorous schedule that includes both Saturday and Sunday duties. The Girls’ Choir sings Evensong twice each month, frequently joined by the lay clerks. Members range from 12 to 18 years old and attend schools throughout Canterbury and the surrounding area.
David Flood serves as the current director of the Canterbury Cathedral Choir and conducts open auditions each autumn for both the boys’ and girls’ groups; five or six singers from each ensemble reach the upper age limit annually and are replaced. Although the choir’s discography remains smaller than those of Britain’s larger cathedral ensembles and consists chiefly of occasional releases devoted to liturgical and seasonal repertoire, the international profile of the Girls’ Choir secured a contract with the Signum label and coverage in BBC Music Magazine. In February 2018 the girls and the lay clerks issued the album Great Cathedral Anthems, which presents works from the Renaissance as well as the 19th and 20th centuries.
Albums
