The Boy Choristers and Girl Choristers of Wales’ National Roman Catholic Cathedral - the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David - are educated at the Choir School St John’s College, located in Old St Mellons, a leafy suburb approximately 3 miles from the centre of Cardiff. During term, the Boy Choristers sing with adult male voices on Sunday mornings and at 5pm Vespers on Tuesdays, and at a small number of additional services, on special feast days and at Christmas and Easter. The Cathedral Choirs give two concerts in St David’s Hall each year, and we also perform further afield, in some of the most beautiful venues in Western Europe. Recent trips have included performances at the splendid Cathedral of Nôtre Dame in Paris, in Bruges, Denmark, and at the wonderful Gothic Cathedral in Amiens. In Autumn 2006, we undertook a choral exchange project with the Choir of St Bavo's in Haarlem (Netherlands). The Junior Girls Cathedral Choir sings Benediction at the Cathedral on Wednesdays, and the Senior Girls Cathedral Choir join the Boys Cathedral Choir on special feast days and in concert. The Choirs can be heard in live broadcasts, on BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio Wales, and extracts from our recordings can be downloaded from this website.

As part of the Chorister scholarship, there are opportunities to receive individual and group tuition which can lead to ABRSM qualifications. Some choristers also receive instrumental tuition, and play in the School’s orchestras and ensembles, and yet this still leaves room for sporting activities. The Boy Choristers were recently crowned champions of the Choir Schools' Association Football tournament, against competition from choristers of the various other cathedrals across the West of England and Wales.

Music plays a central rôle in a child's intellectual, academic, social, moral and spiritual development. Choristers have the opportunity to develop invaluable personal attributes such as self-discipline, self-reliance, concentration, initiative, imagination, sensitivity, aesthetic judgement, and an attention to detail. In combination with the development of linguistic, interpretative, leadership, cognitive, communication and team-working skills, this provides the very best training for future success in whatever profession they enter.

Several of our former Choristers - having been educated through to A-level at the choir school St John’s College in Cardiff - have won scholarships to study at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. One such Chorister, Mark Chaundy, was the first of a long line of our choristers and subsequent choral scholars to be elected to an Academical Clerkship to study at Oxford University and sing in the renowned Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is now a highly successful soloist, and in recent years, he competed for a place in the coveted BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

The Cathedral Choirs are currently recruiting boys and girls aged 7 upwards who show potential and an enthusiasm for music. If you would like an informal chat and an audition, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Dominic Neville: Tel. 029 2077 8936 or email: Dominicneville@cantab.net