Singing

College Chapel Choir was described by Richard Morrison in the Times on 12th June 2001 as “A staggeringly good school choir: 50-strong, beautifully balanced, alert, intelligent, well-tuned, passionate and sensitive . . . I was elated by hearing this highly motivated bunch of teenage boys singing Brahms, Taverner and Vaughan Williams”. It sings in College Chapel on average three times a week, and there are seven rehearsals. Entry is by audition, and members are either ex-cathedral choristers or very experienced singers. Sixty percent of current members are ex-cathedral choristers.

The choir tours each Easter (click here for details of the most recent tours). In 2001, 2003 and 2006 the choir and various chamber ensembles gave a full concert in London in aid of Fairbridge, having shared previous concerts in 1997 and 1999 with the Orchestra of St John’s Smith Square. The choir also took part in a concert with Maxim Vengerov and the English Chamber Orchestra in aid of Music in Country Churches in November 2000. A concert for a local Multiple Sclerosis support group in 2003 raised nearly £10,000 and in 2004 the choir helped to raise funds for the restoration of the twelfth-century Boveney church with the Friends of Friendless Churches. In 2005 they joined in a Christmas Carol Service at St Luke’s Chelsea for the Alice Martineau Appeal for Cystic Fibrosis, and will do so again in 2008. In 2007 they will be putting on a concert in the Grosvenor Chapel to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the drugs and alcohol charity Addaction.

Since 1990 almost 100 boys have been awarded choral and organ scholarships to Oxford or Cambridge.

The choir has made several CDs which are on sale in the Music Schools (click here for details).

Lower Chapel Choir

Sings once a week in Lower Chapel. Entry is by audition for trebles, altos, tenors and basses.

The ECMS Chorus

Sings one big choral work a year (Dream of Gerontius, Elijah, Belshazzar’s Feast, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s St John Passion and Orff’s Carmina Burana recently) with full professional orchestra and soloists. Trebles and altos are always augmented by a girls’ school choir. There are no auditions – masters, boys and staff just join in.

The Incognitos

A small close-harmony group who sing for functions inside and outside the school. Entry is by invitation. Click here and here for details of their CDs.

Competitions for Solo Singing and Inter-House Unison and Harmony Choirs are held in the Michaelmas and Lent Halves.

Choral Courses, open to talented singers aged 16–20, are held at Eton each summer.