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 the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Baroque Incorporated and Modus Operandi Orchestra as part of Saint 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 US, Europe and Scandinavia with performances at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, King’s College, Cambridge, the Aldeburgh Festival, at the Vatican, and in Dresden and at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Domestically, the choir has appeared often at National AGO Conventions.
The boy choristers make frequent appearances on local and national television programs, such as the TODAY program, and the classical music radio station WQXR. They have sung with Sting at the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center, performed at the new Steinway Piano Hall on 6th Avenue, and in 2019 they appeared as the opening act at the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.
Besides annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, the choir’s concerts at Saint Thomas Church have included presentations of the Fauré, Duruflé and Mozart Requiems, the J. S. Bach Passions, the Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross. The choir has given the US premieres of works by John Tavener, Nico Muhly, and in recent times has commissioned new choral music by Trevor Weston, Julian Wachner and Francis Pott. In 2016, a concert in memory of former Director of Music John Scott was performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle.
The choir has made many commercial recordings under successive Directors of Music, Gerre Hancock and John Scott, and has recently done so under the direction of Jeremy Filsell. Besides The Music of Gerre Hancock, albums marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd (Propers for the feast of Corpus Christi, sung within the recreation of the pre-Reformation Sarum Rite Mass), and a recording of Anglo-American Christmas music (Acis) were released in 2023. New recordings of the choral music of Calvin Hampton and Kenneth Leighton are scheduled in 2025 (Signum).
The Gentlemen of the Saint Thomas Choir are all professional singers, and the Boy Choristers all attend the Saint Thomas Choir School, instituted in 1919, nowadays the only remaining educational establishment of its type in the US. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.
Upcoming Choral Services
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
Attended by the American Priory of the Venerable Order of St. John
Friday, October 18, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 20, 2024 @ 11:00 a.m.
Sunday, October 20, 2024 @ 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 24, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m.
