Founded in the fifteenth century, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups; every Christmas Eve millions of people worldwide tune into A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. This service has been broadcast each year by the BBC since 1928. While the choir exists primarily to sing the daily services in King’s College Chapel, its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to invitations to perform throughout the world, and to an extensive international tour schedule.
The Choir of King’s College owes its existence to King Henry VI who, in founding the College in 1441, envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel, one of the jewels of Britain’s cultural and architectural heritage. As the pre-eminent representative of the great British church music tradition, the Choir regards the singing of the daily services as its raison d’etre, and these are an important part of the lives of its sixteen choristers, fourteen choral scholars and two organ scholars who study in the College itself.
The choristers are educated at King’s College School in Cambridge and receive generous scholarships from King’s College to help pay for their education. The School has 340 boys and girls aged 4 to 13 and the choristers are selected at an annual audition when they are in Year 2 or 3 at school. A chorister joins the school as he enters Year 4. For full information about King’s College School and the life of a Chorister, please see www.kcs.cambs.sch.uk
