Choristers
Dean Close Preparatory School is the choir school for the choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.
The choristers are able to benefit from an excellent academic and all round education as well as first rate musical training. The choir’s primary role is to sing Choral Evensong during term time in the splendour of Tewkesbury Abbey.
The choristers are widely acclaimed for their day-to-day singing in the Abbey, as well as their CD recordings and broadcasts on Radio 3.
Diversity is at the heart of their work: the choir has an active concert diary including an annual performance of Messiah at Christmas. The choir has also sung at venues across the UK, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Merton College, Oxford and St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Touring forms an important part of the choir’s life, and recent engagements have taken them to Sweden, France and The Netherlands. The choir records exclusively for Regent Records, and its most recent recording of anthems by Sir Edward Bairstow received many excellent reviews, including a nomination as an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine.
We are also proud that two of our former choristers have held the coveted title of BBC Young Chorister of the Year.
The choristers rehearse together at school five times a week and at the Abbey before each service. As a day and boarding school, Dean Close is able to offer flexibility in offering day, day boarding or full boarding places. Uniquely amongst choral foundations, there are usually no weekend commitments and the choristers are at home for church festivals such as Christmas and Easter which fall in the holidays. Many of our choristers win music awards to senior schools including Dean Close School.
Some of our former choristers have gone on to study at music college and several have won choral and organ scholarships to major Oxford and Cambridge colleges in recent years. All this is achieved within the framework of a broad education in a school with excellent facilities, which aims to provide support for children of all abilities.