Organist and Director of Music: Alexander Woodrow
Assistant Organist: Shaun Turnbull
The Minster Choir is a talented and dedicated adult chamber ensemble, singing three choral services a week (Thursday Evensongs and a Choral Eucharist and Choral Evensong each Sunday) with a wide-ranging repertoire. A number of Choral Scholarships are generously supported by the Edith Lill bequest and the Pilling Trust Fund, and the scholars sing alongside a committed and experienced team of volunteer singers drawn from the locality.
Our Director of Music, Alexander Woodrow, is keen to hear from able musicians who might be interested in a regular commitment, or in joining our list of deputy singers. The choir enjoys high musical standards, a wide and stimulating repertoire, a strong sense of community and teamwork, professional direction and accompaniment, and is free to join. Find out more about joining the choir…
We also offer remunerated choral scholarships to full-time university students, and are interested in hearing from prospective singers ahead of September 2024 entry. Please see our scholarships page for further information.
Leeds Minster has a long and glorious choral history, counting such famous figures as Samuel Sebastian Wesley and Edward Bairstow among its former Organists. The choir continues to play an integral part in our weekly programme of Services.
The Choir of Leeds Parish Church, as it then was, can be dated back to the early years of the 19th century when a choir was installed in the chancel by Revd Richard Fawcett, making it one of the earliest choirs to sing in an Anglican chancel since the Reformation.
For many years, under the leadership of many notable and distinguished musicians, Leeds was the only parish church choir in the country singing daily choral services, and the choir held its place within the “cathedral” tradition of the nation. However, it had become clear by the last years of the twentieth century that this was no longer tenable and in the autumn of 2015 the decision was taken to stand down the boys’ and girls’ choirs of the Minster (as the church had been created in 2012).
