THE Chapter has been thinking about introducing girl choristers
for many years, the Dean of Truro, the Very Revd
Roger Bush, says. Now, at last, they are to have a girls' choir,
starting this autumn. The cathedral has had a traditional choir of
men and boys ever since it was consecrated in 1887, and it is
currently highly regarded.
Besides singing at six services each week during term time, and
during the main festivals, the 18 boys and 12 men have a regular
programme of concerts, broadcasts, and foreign tours. The boys,
with scholarships from the cathedral, are educated at Polwhele
House School. Six men are lay vicars, and six are choral
scholars.
The girls, aged 13 to 18, will be drawn from Truro School, an
independent co-ed school, where they will receive 25-per-cent
scholarships. As with the boys, their selection will be on musical
and academic potential, and they will sing services in parallel
with the boys.
"With our shared commitment to musical excellence," Truro
School's headmaster, Andrew Gordon-Brown (above, with the
Dean), says, "this partnership between Truro School and Truro
Cathedral is wonderful news indeed. We already have one of the
biggest and busiest music departments in the south-west, and we are
delighted with the introduction of a new chorister programme for
girls that gives us new opportunities to build on this
further."