About Truro Cathedral Choir

Truro Cathedral Choir has an unbroken tradition dating back to the 1880s when services took place in a wooden shed whilst John Loughborough Pearson’s Gothic Revival cathedral was under construction. Today, the choir usually performs with its twelve adult professional singers, joined by either its eighteen boy Choristers or its seventeen girl Choristers. The twelve adult professional singers comprise seven Lay Vicars (permanent members of the choir) and five Choral Scholars (pre- or post-university students from all over the country and further afield). The boy Choristers, aged 8 to 13, are educated at Polwhele House Preparatory School, and the girl Choristers, aged 13 to 18, are educated at Truro School. Scholarships and bursaries are available to all Choristers with the aim that selection is based purely on ability.

As well as singing at six or seven services each week, the choir undertakes regular concerts, broadcasts, webcasts, foreign tours, and CD recordings. In recent years, the choir has appeared on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, and ITV, as well as taking part in regular live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.  Recent recordings have included single-composer discs of music by Benjamin Britten, Philip Stopford, and Gabriel Jackson. A wealth of new music has been written specially for the choir by many of the UK’s leading composers.

The choir’s first DVD is now available from the Cathedral Shop. It is titled ‘The Story of Nine Lessons and Carols’ and features a recording of the famous carol service from Truro Cathedral on 23^rd December 2014, as well as a documentary about its Cornish origins under Edward White Benson, the first Bishop of Truro.

Truro Cathedral Choir sings at the 5.30pm services most weeks during term time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Sunday sung services are at 10.00am and 4.00pm. Everyone is welcome at all of our services.  Further details about services, concerts, choristerships and choral scholarships can be found at www.trurocathedral.org.uk.