We will be welcoming four visiting choirs to the Cathedral in August: St John’s Episcopal Church in Savannah, The Lincoln Cathedral Chamber Choir, Goring Chamber Choir and The St Cecilia Choir of Grace Church on-the-hill, Toronto. 

St John’s Episcopal Church in Savannah

Sunday 12th August

The St John’s Choir is composed of a mixed-voice adult section, girls section and boys section. The mixed-voice ensemble has been responsible for the Sunday morning services since the late 1950’s. In 2000, a girls’ ensemble and a boys’ ensemble were formed. The girls are now responsible for a Wednesday Evening service, and the boys are being gradually phased into regular participation in the Sunday morning services. All three ensembles are combined to sing the monthly Choral Evensong. This combined choir had its first British Cathedral residency at Truro Cathedral in 2003. The choir has also recorded two CDs. Brian J. Taylor, DSM, has served as organist-choirmaster at St John’s Church since 1999.  

The Lincoln Cathedral Chamber Choir

Monday 13th August 

The Lincoln Cathedral Chamber Choir was formed in January 2006 by the Assistant Organist, Richard Apperley. It is the Cathedral’s voluntary choir and sings when the Cathedral Choir is on recess, and shares the singing of major Festivals.  It is an amateur choir, with members aged from the mid-teens upwards, providing opportunities for ex-choristers to continue singing and introducing new singers to Cathedral repertoire. The choir also sings at other churches throughout the diocese and at other Cathedrals.

Goring Chamber Choir 

Friday 17th - Sunday 19th August 

Goring Chamber Choir is based in Goring-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, though its members come from a range of towns and villages nearby. The choir gives three concerts a year and also enjoys travelling abroad regularly. They have recently exchanged visits with the Cathedral Choir of Bilbao and been hosted by two choirs near Besançon in France. Next summer they plan to sing in Poland. They also like to make short visits to Cathedrals every summer to sing the services. This year they sang in York Minster over the New Year. The Choir celebrated its Golden Anniversary in 2001.

The St Cecilia Choir of Grace Church on-the-hill, Toronto

Monday 20th - Sunday 26th August 

The choir of Grace Church was, at the parish’s founding, a choir of men, women, and boys. It was converted to men and boys only in 1978, leading to the foundation of the St Cecilia Choir as a girls’ choir in 1983. The women’s division was added in 1986. The choir has members of all ages, and sings regularly in parish services of Eucharist, Mattins, and Evensong, and as well as concerts and special services. The choir has been recorded in The First Nowell, as well as the ground-breaking recordings of The Holy Jazz Concert and There Was Setting, There was Dawning with internationally-known jazz artists Brain Barlow and Guido Basso. The girls’ choir travelled to England in 1998, singing in Wells, Sheffield, Ripon, Southwell and Nottingham. The full choir travelled to England, Wales, and Ireland in 2001, singing in Coventry, Worcester, Kilkenny and Bangor Cathedrals as well as a week in residence at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. The choir is thrilled to come to sing at Lichfield Cathedral this August after a Sunday at All Saints, Northampton, followed by a week's residence at Salisbury.