Liturgical Music at the Cathedral
The Cathedral has five dedicated choirs which perform in rotation, singing at a total of eight services each week. Vespers and Mass are sung every weekday (except Friday) alongside the principal Sunday services.
For details of the repertoire sung at services click here to view our music list.
Leeds Cathedral Choirs
The Choirs of Leeds Cathedral draw their membership exclusively from inner-city Leeds state schools with children recruited through our weekly Schools Singing Programme sessions. The children and young people within our choirs reflect the diversity of our city with over 50% of the 158 children singing at the Cathedral from a black and minority ethnic heritage.
Children’s Choir
Formed in September 2014 this choir consists of children aged between 5-9, many of whom later graduate to the Junior Cathedral Boys’ or Girls’ Choir. Children’s Choir members are selected from primary schools in our Schools Singing Programme, while other children audition from outside. Membership of the choir offers children the opportunity to develop their musical and vocal skills, make new friends with similar interests, and perform to a high standard. They sing a varied repertoire of sacred and secular music and have already been heard on CD.
Junior Choirs
The Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs consist of around 60 children aged between 6-11 who have been recruited through the Schools Singing Programme and Cathedral Children’s Choir. These choirs provide opportunities to meet like-minded children and current members are drawn from 15 different state primary schools across Leeds. The choirs have appeared on the BBC’s Songs of Praise and Midnight Mass from Leeds Cathedral and have been heard on on BBC Radio 2 and 4 including Sunday Worship and the Daily Service.
Senior Choirs
Members of the Senior Choirs aged between 11-16 sing weekly services at the Cathedral and regularly perform in prestigious venues including Leeds Town Hall and the Clothworkers Concert Hall. They have broadcast nationally many times on BBC Television and Radio to considerable critical acclaim and have recorded Duruflé and Arvo Pärt’s complete choral works with the Brilliant Classics label. The repertoire of these choirs is centred on Medieval Chant and Renaissance Polyphony, with the choristers fluent in reading both modern and Gregorian notation.
Scholars’ Choir
The Scholars’ Choir – acknowledged as one of the finest in the country – has 25 members comprising School Scholars, aged 12-18, and University Student Choral Scholars. The choir sings cathedral services every Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday during term time and performs regularly in BBC broadcasts, concerts and recordings; most recently the Choir broadcast BBC Radio 3’s Choral Vespers (February 2019). This choir provides opportunities to develop a range of professional-level performance skills and supports members with preparation for music exams and university and conservatoire auditions and recitals.
Click here for more information on our Cathedral Scholarships.
Members of our Cathedral choirs are drawn from Schools Singing Programme sessions within local schools. If our team of Choral Directors do not visit your child’s school and they are interested in joining one of our choirs, please contact us at office@dioceseofleedsmusic.org.uk or 0113 244 8634 to arrange an audition.
Come along to the cathedral at 1.15 to hear our lovely choirs in some fabulous music?
Ah, thanks! 😊😊😊
Tune into @_cathedralmusic's fantastic #AdventCalendar to hear our Cathedral Senior Girls' Choir get medieval with some Hildegard. Our Cathedral Choirs all join from our whole class School Singing Programme, which sees around 6000 children a week across the Diocese 🎶🎵🎵🎶
Where could this door be? Extra marks if anyone can tell us where in the building it is...tune in tomorrow to find out who's singing behind it...
Fantastic to see this, led by our fabulous Choral Director @lizzieleather - well done choir!
Cathedral Music Trust Advent Calendar
www.cathedralmusictrust.org.uk
Enjoy our advent calendar and open musical doors of opportunity this Christmas
Cathedral Music Trust Advent Calendar
www.cathedralmusictrust.org.uk
Enjoy our advent calendar and open musical doors of opportunity this Christmas
The Diocese of Lancaster is recruiting a Choral Director | NSSP
www.nssp.org.uk
Here at the Diocese of Lancaster, we are delighted to be appointing a Choral Director as part of our National Schools Singing Programme. This is an exciting new venture to engage children and young people through music in schools and parishes in the Preston area. There is strong evidence of how ...