St Albans Cathedral Choir

Schedule

Unlike many Cathedrals, St Albans does not have its own boarding Choir School (although the choir has strong links with many local day schools, including St Albans School and St Columba's College, St Albans), meaning that services and rehearsals have to be fitted around a normal school week. Choristers are therefore expected to sing at the Cathedral both before and after school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, on which days Choral Evensong is sung, in addition to an evening rehearsal on Friday and the commitment of up to four services over the weekend. A typical week will involve around 18 hours of singing, and over his seven-year career in the choir a Chorister will spend approximately six months' worth of that singing in the Cathedral.

Touring

The choir goes on tours to other countries every other year to perform concerts, with past tours including the United States, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany

Traditions

The annual Choir Camp was founded by Peter Hurford when he was organist at St Albans and held in the hamlet of Luccombe. The tents used by the choir remained the same since the first Choir Camp in 1958, with most being army surplus from the Second World War. On the Sunday the choir would sing Choral Eucharist in St Mary's, Luccombe for the parishioners, and on each day the choristers and layclerks would go on hikes, often over ten miles in length, around the Somerset countryside. The Camp celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008.

The Choir also holds an annual cricket match and football match using the grounds of local schools. The games are played between the two 'sides' of the choir, known in the English choral tradition as Decani and Cantoris. Dec and Can have a close rivalry with Can winning football for the last 3 years and Dec winning Cricket for the last 3 years as well.

Organists

The choir is directed by the Master of the Music, currently Andrew Lucas. The Assistant Master of the Music is currently Tom Winpenny. The current organist is Nicolas Freestone.

Assistant Masters of the Music

The assistant master of music at St Albans may also be the Master of Music at St Albans School. For example, John Rutter's Donkey Carol is dedicated "to Simon Lindley and the choir of St. Albans School".

Notable Ex-Choristers

Trivia

St Albans Cathedral Choir appeared in the 2003 film Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson and John Malkovich as the choir of Westminster Abbey during the coronation scene.