Welcoming our visiting choirs to the 371st Festival

The Clergy Support Trust Festival is the oldest choral music event of its kind in the world.

On Tuesday 12 May 2026, 5pm, the Festival Service will celebrate 371 years, running continuously since 1655 with only two breaks; during the pandemic (2020) and the London Blitz (1940). Tickets are free, and will be available to book on our website from February 2026.

The Service is a key date in the Church, City of London and choral music calendars, and over the years composers including Edward Elgar have written music especially for the event. It includes a majestic procession of Bishops, Masters of Livery Companies, representatives of the City of London, Stewards of the Festival and other dignitaries.

The Service brings together three exceptional cathedral choirs to perform as one, under the magnificent dome of St Paul's Cathedral. This year, we welcome the cathedral choirs of Blackburn and St Albans, alongside the St Paul's Cathedral Choir. We are delighted to introduce you to this year's choirs, joining us for what promises to be a majestic act of worship.

Blackburn Cathedral Choir

There have been choirs singing on the site of Blackburn Cathedral for over a thousand years. Today, Blackburn Cathedral maintains a vibrant choral tradition, with choristers drawn from a wide variety of local schools. Diversity and inclusion are intrinsic to their identity, and to their quality as a choir.

They are open to girls and boys (starting at age 7), while the lower parts are taken by professional-standard adult singers (often from the Royal Northern College of Music), junior choral scholars, and volunteers from the area. The Cathedral Choir represents a unique free start to musical life for local children, most of whom have no musical experience when they begin their musical journey.

Choristers in white robes are walking in lines of two inside a Church.

Three lines of adult and child choristers are dressed in white robes, looking at the camera and smiling.

St Albans Cathedral Choir

St Albans Cathedral Choir is regarded as one of the finest cathedral choirs in the country.

In addition to the daily round of choral services, the choir takes part in concerts, tours, broadcasts and recordings. In recent years, the choir has visited the USA, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Germany and Sweden. Their discography is extensive, with releases on the Naxos Records label of music by Mozart, Rutter, Poston, Michael Haydn, Mendelssohn and Mathias.

They have performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and has given live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and BBC One. They have also given the first performances of works by Judith Weir, Cecilia McDowall, Carl Rütti and Alec Roth.

St Paul's Cathedral Choir

Blackburn and St Albans Cathedral Choirs will perform alongside St Paul's Cathedral Choir - who have leant us their time and talent every year for over three centuries - led by their Director of Music, Andrew Carwood MBE. Speaking on last year's Festival Service, Andrew said:

“It is a rare and wonderful joy to work with such incredible choirs each year, and even more so when you are part of an almost unbroken line of choirs singing together, stretching back almost 400 years.”

The choir have performed at some of the cathedral's most important services – including their Grenfell Tower Memorial Service and their Service of Prayer and Reflection for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

St Paul's Cathedral Choir are being led in song by their Director of Music, Andrew Carwood.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Photography: Clergy Support Trust, Blackburn Cathedral Choir, St Albans Cathedral Choir

Clergy Support Trust is the largest and oldest charity focussed on the wellbeing of clergy and their families. The Trust, originally founded in 1655, provides confidential help for Anglican clergy and their families across the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, and Diocese in Europe. The Trust are confidential, independent, inclusive, and impartial, and we support clergy from training through to retirement. In 2025, we supported over 2,900 households with more than 7,000 grants.