School: 01242 512217


Registrar: 01242 258001


dcpsoffice@deanclose.org.uk


www.deanclose.org.uk


Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum


“The trebles splendidly vindicate the tradition that places them at the heart of English cathedral music.” Gramophone April 2009


The boy choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum are all educated at Dean Close Preparatory School, Cheltenham. They sing in public four times a week – usually at the weekday services in Tewkesbury Abbey.


The choir’s repertoire is huge, with unaccompanied works from Tallis and Sheppard to large-scale works including the St John Passion and St Matthew Passion of J.S.Bach and Handel’s Messiah. Over the last few years, the choir has been involved in a number of large-scale concerts and services in Westminster Abbey, St David’s Hall, Cardiff and Cheltenham Town Hall. The choir has made numerous highly acclaimed CDs on the Delphian, Guild, Hyperion, Naxos, Priory, Regent and Signum labels. The choir regularly broadcasts on the BBC. In 2009, Laurence Kilsby, a chorister in the Schola, won the title BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year.


The choristers love touring, and in the last few years the choir has made three lengthy visits to the USA, six visits to France and trips to Italy and Germany. In December of 2008, the choristers represented Great Britain in a concert of music by Berlioz with the Slovak Philharmony which was the closing event of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The choir has sung in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, St Mark’s Basilica, Venice and St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York.


Boys are usually offered chorister scholarships from Year 4 until the end of Year 8. They spend their first year as ‘probationer’ choristers learning the ropes with a reduced choir timetable. All boys receive singing lessons with Bronwen Mills free of charge. Their schedule is demanding, but the boys enjoy the huge rewards of working in a team, travelling as a group of friends and performing as professionals.


The usual pattern of rehearsals and services is: Rehearsals Evensong


Monday Tuesday


7.45am


Wednesday 7.45am Thursday Friday


7.45am 7.45am


5.30pm 7.45am & 1.25pm 5.30pm


5.30pm 5.30pm


Benjamin Nicholas is Director of Choral Music at Dean Close School and Director of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum. He is a graduate of Oxford University and a former organ scholar of St Paul’s Cathedral. With Peter Phillips he is also director of the choral foundation at Merton College, Oxford.


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