Wells Cathedral

About the choir

Wells Cathedral Choir is at the heart of the worshipping life of the Cathedral, and always has been. Boy Choristers first sang at Wells Cathedral from c. 909, and the full choral tradition dates back over 800 years. Most of the 12 Vicars Choral — the adult professional singers of the Choir — and the Organists still live in Vicars’ Close, begun in 1348, making it the oldest medieval street in Europe continuously occupied for its original purpose.

In 1994, the Choral Foundation at Wells was enriched by the addition of Girl Choristers, and we very much enjoyed celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Girl Choristers in 2024 with a series of celebratory events. 

Today, Wells Cathedral Choir is renowned for the breadth and depth of its musical repertoire, for the quality of its choral music as a key part of the liturgy, and for its wider contribution to the commissioning of new music. With the financial assistance of the Cathedral Commissions scheme (established in 2006), the Choir has premiered works by some of today’s finest composers, including Michael Berkeley, Judith Bingham, Geoffrey Burgon, Bob Chilcott, Jonathan Dove, Grayston Ives, Gabriel Jackson, John Joubert, Cecilia McDowall, James MacMillan, Peter Maxwell Davies, Tarik O’Regan, John Rutter, Anna Semple, Howard Skempton, John Tavener, Joby Talbot, Judith Weir, and many more. The Choir has been praised for its innovative recordings for the Hyperion, Regent, Signum, and Resonus labels.

As well as the liturgical repertoire,the Choir performs larger scale choral works in concert and performs regularly with orchestral musicians from Wells Cathedral School’s specialist music department.