Westminster Abbey Choir School
History
The school is believed to have been founded around 1560, as the choir boys of Westminster Abbey have been educated there since Elizabethan times. The present school was built in 1915 (2015 being its centenary year) and underwent renovations in 1990s.
The three houses of the Choir School are named after the musicians John Blow, Henry Purcell and Orlando Gibbons, who were all Organists of Westminster Abbey.
Governors
The Chairman of the Governors of the school is David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster.
Inspections
The school was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in February 2023.
Curriculum
As a choir school, boys are selected by musical ability. The Dean and Chapter meet the cost of their vocal training and at least eighty per cent of the cost of their education. The regular school curriculum is not neglected and pupils are taught the required National Curriculum subjects as well as Latin, French and Greek.
The choir
The choir makes frequent broadcasts and recordings. The choir's most recent recording is a CD of Hubert Parry's Songs of Farewell, which is on Hyperion Records.
Tours
The choir has travelled across the world to perform tours, most recently in Australia, the United States, China, Moscow, Rome, and Hungary. Generally these tours take place once every two years although this was disrupted during Covid.
Notable former pupils
- Christopher Brown, composer
- Tim Brown, choral director
- James Burton, conductor
- Alan Civil, French horn orchestral player
- Gabriel Crouch, baritone, choral conductor
- Adrian Cruft, composer
- Brian Easdale, composer
- Clive Farahar, antiquarian book dealer
- Neil Jenkins, tenor
- William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, academic
- James Wilkinson, author and former BBC science correspondent
- David Willcocks, conductor, organist and composer
- Guy Woolfenden, composer
Notable staff
In the 1950s, the celebrated singer John Whitworth taught maths at the school.
See also
References
- ^ Westminster Abbey Choir tour to Australia
- ^ 2015 ISI Inspection report
- ^ Recent recordings of Westminster Abbey Choir
- ^ Garry Humphreys, John Whitworth: Celebrated countertenor, in The Independent, 15 September 2013, accessed 20 June 2020