Merton College Girl Choristers: Residential Trips
In 2023, the Girl Choristers embarked on their first international tour, traveling to Paris to perform at the American Cathedral in Paris and Saint-Sulpice.
After a forced break in our Residential schedule, the Choristers were able to tour once more in 2022. Our residential trip saw the Choristers sing evensong at Tewkesbury Abbey (pictured below), a concert for one of Merton's College Livings in Rushall, and evensong at Gloucester Cathedral.
In 2020 and 2021 the Girl Choristers were unable to travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 the Choristers participated in socially distanced summer sessions at Merton. In the summer of 2021, the Choristers recorded their debut Christmas album, In the Stillness, which will have it's highly-anticipated commercial release in time for Christmas 2022.
In August 2019, the Girl Choristers travelled to Chichester, for three days in residence at Chichester Cathedral. They sang Evensong at the Cathedral at 5:30pm each evening.
In August 2018, the Girl Choristers enjoyed a four-day trip to the North East. The choristers sang Evensong in Durham Cathedral, and gave concerts at the churches of Holy Trinity, Embleton and St Mary the Virgin, Ponteland. Both Embleton and Ponteland are College ‘Livings’ and in 2018 we celebrated the 750th anniversary of the link between Ponteland and Merton. The concert programmes included music by Byrd, Handel, Copland, Hurford, Lindley, Archer, and ending with John Scott’s arrangement of How can I keep from singing?
The Girl Choristers took their first residential trip, to Cheltenham and Cirencester, in August 2017, rehearsing in a local school and singing the Sunday service at Cirencester Parish Church.
