The Cathedral choristers have enjoyed a tremendous year of exciting services and events in 2024 – 2025. The Michaelmas term began with the installation of our new Head and Deputy Head Choristers from Year 2 RGS senior school – two Head Choristers and two Deputy Head Choristers who head a team of dedicated boys who come across to the Cathedral by bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and sing a beautiful, contemplative service of Choral Evensong from 5.30 p.m. – c. 6.10 p.m. The boys also sing at the Cathedral on Sunday (either 9.45 am Eucharist or 6.00 pm Evensong). As such, they are representing the school on every occasion of public worship, and we should all be immensely proud of all they do and achieve. All are welcome to every service.
On Sunday 22 September, the choir was joined by the choir of the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, for a service of Evensong and the boys enjoyed singing alongside their counterparts.
Our vocal coach began her work with the choristers and their lunchtime music theory sessions began. On Sunday 6 October the boys gave a delightful informal instrumental concert to family and friends in the Cathedral congregation after the morning service, highlighting their instrumental talents. They delighted those attending the RGS Prep Open Day on Saturday 12 October with a programme of sacred and secular items to a large and attentive audience in the LPS. Just before half term on Saturday 19 October the boys sang a service of Evensong with the Guildford Cathedral Choir Association – the former choristers of the Cathedral, who join annually for an AGM and to sing together once again.
Following half term, on 1 November, the boys sang a Eucharist for one of the major feast days of the Christian Year – All Saints. On Sunday 10 November, the boys sang a setting of the Requiem Mass in an evening service to mark Remembrance Sunday, completely off by heart, which was a stunning achievement. On Saturday 16 November the boys came to the Cathedral to record items for the online Advent calendar which appeared on the Cathedral’s website throughout the season of Advent, starting on 1 December.
The Advent Carol took place on Sunday 1 December, with the boys singing to a packed Cathedral. The biggest excitement of the term was yet to come, however, with a Christmas Celebration concert on Saturday 7 December to a sold-out audience. The Cathedral choir received a fully deserved standing ovation from the capacity audience for their performance, accompanied by the Sub Organist on the organ and by a professional brass ensemble and percussionists and harpist. The choristers sang beautifully at the RGS prep carol service, then had a few days off as a pre-Christmas break.
Following this, the choir returned for their all-important pre-Christmas rehearsals. On Sunday 22 December they sang an incredibly beautiful service of lessons and carols. The Nativity service on Sunday 24 December was a tremendous occasion, and some of the choristers played their instruments as part of the Stag Hill Philharmonic orchestra. Services on Christmas Day – a morning Eucharist and a repeat lessons and carols at 4 p.m. – were all hugely popular, with the afternoon service congregation on Christmas Day breaking all records!
The Lent term began with the Epiphany Procession on Sunday 12 January – a carol service for that season of the Church’s year. On Tuesday 14 January, we were delighted to welcome Year 2 pre-prep boys who sang an anthem at our service of Evensong, with many a proud family member watching on. On Sunday 19 January there was a special service for Gordons School, followed swiftly by a particularly important service the following weekend at which we installed and welcomed our new Dean of Guildford. The Cathedral was packed and the whole Cathedral choir excelled itself, singing with the brass ensemble, including the ‘Coronation’ Te Deum as sung at King Charles III’s coronation.
The ‘Christmas and Epiphany’ season ends at the Cathedral on 2 February with the feast of Candlemas when the infant Jesus is presented in the Temple – and the boys sang beautifully. Several boys sat their RSCM (Royal School of Church Music) exams on Saturday 8 February and I am delighted to say that all passed with flying colours. On Sunday 9 February, Racial Justice Sunday was marked in cathedral services, and a month later on Sunday 9 March, the boys and layclerks sang Evensong in the Diocese of Guildford (The Cathedral Choir sings a service of Evensong in the Diocese each term – this was the boys’ turn) at Christ Church, Esher.
Whilst the school was already on holiday, its choristers continued to represent it in a stunning concert at the Cathedral on Saturday 12 April singing a work called ‘Holy Week’ by a Welsh composer, accompanied by a full orchestra. This then led into the time of the church’s year called Holy Week itself, starting with the morning service on Palm Sunday, then services through Holy Week and Easter. This is always a week full of exceptionally beautiful singing and moving liturgies and the boys gave of their absolute best.
After a well-deserved break, the boys returned in fine form for the Trinity term, beginning with Eucharist for Mark the Evangelist, on 29 April and for Saints Philip and James on 1 May. On Sunday 1 June, the boys gave another informal instrumental concert after Eucharist at the Cathedral which was delightful and appreciated by many. On Sunday 8 June, 50 days after Easter Day, the boys sang Eucharist on the Patronal festival of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Guildford – Pentecost, with all the combined choirs of the Cathedral including its adult voluntary choir, Guildford Cathedral Singers. This was followed by the biennial choir photograph.
On Sunday 15 June, the boys sang a joint service of Evensong with the combined Cathedral and Holy Trinity parish church choir – a choir of 101! On Thursday 19 June, they sang at an evening service for the Feast of Corpus Christi at the Cathedral, followed by a welcome bacon sandwich the next morning at school as a treat – and at the Ordination of priests’ service at the Cathedral on Saturday 28 June.
6 July was the last Sunday of the academic year, and the annual family picnic and cricket match at school was followed by the final Evensong of the academic year with installation and valediction of choristers. We valedicted our Head Choristers and Deputy Head Choristers, our changed voice chorister, and other choristers – all of whom continue at RGS senior school as part of the changed voices group of singers – and several choristers who are moving on. We delight in our Year 6 boys’ successful entries to RGS senior school complete with music scholarships. As I write, the Cathedral choir is preparing for a choir tour to Denmark, singing concerts in Viborg Cathedral and in the Trinitas Kirche in Copenhagen, with a trip to Legoland planned alongside a canal cruise in Copenhagen, a walking tour in Viborg and a trip to the National Museum in Copenhagen.
I hugely value the excellent relationship that the Cathedral enjoys with its choir school. The boy choristers are on top form this year – it is a tremendous joy to watch these young men grow and develop as musicians and to get to know their families. They are a much-loved and valued part of the Cathedral community. Thank you to the school for all its support and encouragement not just of me but of the boys themselves and to all the staff who ensure that the boys have a wonderful experience of life at RGS.