Cathedral Choir

Choristerships | Choral scholarships

There has been a choir at Hereford Cathedral since at least the 13th century, producing beautiful music in the building’s unrivalled acoustic and glorious surroundings.

Today, the choir’s choristers (aged 7–13), and lay clerks and choral scholars (the adult members who sing the alto, tenor and bass parts), continue this tradition into the 21st century, providing music at the cathedral’s daily services and many special occasions throughout the year. They also reach a wider audience by singing in concerts, broadcasts on television, radio and the internet, recordings and international tours.

Recordings

The choir's most recent recording is a disc of Easter music on Regent Records (REGCD 478). There are also highly-acclaimed discs of music by William Byrd on Griffin Records (GCCD 4048), and music by Herbert Howells on Regent (REGCD 316), and Christmas from Hereford (REGCD 388).

View extracts from reviews

To purchase any of these CDs, please click here.

Concerts

For many years the choir has given peformances of Bach’s St John Passion and St Matthew Passion in alternate years in the cathedral on Tuesday of Holy Week. It has also given nine performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio since 2006.

The choir has also performed with the City of London Sinfonia at the Barbican Hall in London, conducted by Harry Christophers.

In 2005 the choir gave a concert in HM Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, in the presence of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. Since 2010 it has sung an Advent carol service at the Guards' Chapel, London.

In 2018 the choir took part in a concert at Buckingham Palace in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales, and also visited Rome, where it sang at a Papal Mass in St Peter’s Square, as well as giving a concert in the Sistine Chapel.

In 2019 the choir travelled to Normandy to sing in the 75th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day Landings, which was broadcast live on television worldwide, and later in the year gave a concert in Bologna at the invitation of the British Embassy in Rome.

Broadcasts

The choir has appeared on BBC Songs of Praise several times, most recently for special programmes broadcast at Christmas 2007 and on Easter Day 2008. It also takes part regularly in BBC Radio 3’s weekly live broadcasts of Choral Evensong, including on Ash Wednesday 2012, when the Guardian described the choir’s performance of Allegri’s famous Miserere as sung ‘with glorious aplomb’. In 2017 the cathedral’s Easter Day service was broadcast live on BBC1.