The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered to be the leading ensemble of its kind in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. While its primary raison d’être is to sing five choral services each week, the Choir also performs regularly with Orchestra of St. Luke’s and New York Baroque Incorporated as part of St. Thomas Church concert series. Live webcasts of choral services and further information concerning recordings, tours and concerts given by the Choir can be found at www.SaintThomasChurch.org.
Over recent years, the Choir has toured throughout the U.S., Europe and Scandinavia with performances at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, King’s College, Cambridge, Windsor, Edinburgh, St. Albans, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Vatican. In 2012, the Boys of the Choir traveled to Dresden to give the premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Dresden Requiem with the Dresden Staatskapelle in the Frauenkirche and Semper Oper and the full choir performed later that year in the Thomaskirche at the Leipzig BachFest. Domestically, the Choir most recently toured the Southeastern United States and featured at the National AGO Convention in Houston, Texas.
The boy choristers make frequent appearances on local and national television programs, such as the TODAY program , and appearances on classical music radio stations. They sang with Sting at the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center and, at Christmas 2019, they were invited to be the opening act of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Besides the annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, concerts at Saint Thomas Church have included Requiems by Fauré, Brahms, Mozart, Duruflé, Victoria and Howells; J.S. Bach’s Passions, Mass in B Minor and Motets; the lesser-known St. John Passion of C.P.E. Bach; the U.S. premiere of John Tavener’s Mass; the U.S. premiere of Nico Muhly’s work My Days with viol consort Fretwork; Handel’s Israel in Egypt and James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross. In 2014, the Boy Choristers performed in Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion at the Park Avenue Armory as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Peter Sellars and conductor Sir Simon Rattle. In 2016, a concert in memory of John Scott was performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle.
The Gentlemen of the Saint Thomas Choir are professional singers; the Boy Choristers attend the Saint Thomas Choir School and The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc. (www.concertorganists.com).
Watch New Yorker Video: A Virtuoso’s Choral Legacy
A video produced by the New Yorker about the legacy of John Scott and how our new Organist and Director of Music, Daniel Hyde, seeks to honor his legacy.
The Saint Thomas Choir School
Watch the video below to learn more about the Saint Thomas Choir School and how it intersects with Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys.
