Schola Cantorum

The Schola Cantorum of Ampleforth Abbey was established by Cardinal Basil Hume (formerly the Abbot of Ampleforth) and by David Bowman (the choir's first Conductor) to help preserve in England the singing of music written for the Roman Catholic church, along with the best examples from other traditions, in the context for which it was written, namely the celebration of Mass.  The choir is therefore one of only a few all-male catholic choirs in the country, comprising of boys aged 8-18 along with one or two monks.  The trebles are drawn from St Martin's Ampleforth whilst the lower voices come from the College.  The choir is conducted by Mr Little and accompanied on the organ by Mr Dore.  Mr Dore, Mr MacBeth and Mrs Reece assist with sectional rehearsals.

The choir has sectional rehearsals on Wednesday evenings and full rehearsals before each Mass service.  Mass is sung in the Abbey Church on Friday evening at 8:30p.m., Sunday mornings at 10:00a.m. and on certain Holy Days of Obligation.  In addition the choir gives one or two concerts each term in the Abbey or in the locality.

The music sung spans 900 years, to include plainsong as well as music from the Renaissance, through to masters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Tours have been undertaken in recent years to France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Bavaria, Hong Kong, Poland, Hungary, Malta and Spain.  Various CDs of the choir are available - for more details of these please visit Ampleforth Online Shopping.