Editing St Paul's Cathedral (section)

===Choir===
St Paul's Cathedral has a full professional choir which sings regularly at services. The earliest records of the choir date from 1127. The choir historically consisted of up to 30 boy choristers, eight probationers, and vicars choral of 12 professional male singers.

In February 2017, the cathedral announced the appointment of the first female vicar choral, Carris Jones (a mezzo-soprano), to take up the role in September 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/28/st-pauls-cathedral-appoints-first-female-chorister-1000-year/ |title=St Paul's Cathedral appoints first female chorister in 1,000-year history |first=Olivia |last=Rudgard |date=28 February 2017 |website=The Telegraph |access-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019233818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/28/st-pauls-cathedral-appoints-first-female-chorister-1000-year/ |archive-date=19 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39120557 |title=St Paul's Cathedral admits first woman to choir |date=28 February 2017 |website=BBC News |access-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516062307/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39120557 |archive-date=16 May 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/01/st-pauls-appoints-first-full-time-female-chorister-in-1000-year-history |title=St Paul's appoints first full-time female chorister in 1,000-year history |first=Tess |last=de la Ware |date=1 March 2017 |website=The Guardian |access-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425111157/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/01/st-pauls-appoints-first-full-time-female-chorister-in-1000-year-history |archive-date=25 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During 2022, St Paul's Cathedral announced that it would admit girls to its choir, breaking a tradition stretching back 900 years.<ref>{{cite news |date=5 May 2022 |title=St Paul's Cathedral to admit girls to choir for first time in 900 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/05/st-pauls-cathedral-to-admit-girls-to-choir-900-years |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=6 May 2022 |archive-date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505195742/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/05/st-pauls-cathedral-to-admit-girls-to-choir-900-years |url-status=live|author-first1=Harriet|author-last1=Sherwood}}</ref> On 30 June 2024, when two girls formally joined the cathedral choir as full choristers, having undertaken specialist training in preparation, the Sunday Choral Evensong service officially marked this historic event.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stpauls.co.uk/press-release/girls-join-st-pauls-cathedral-choir-for-first-time-in-900-year-history|title=Girls join St Paul's Cathedral Choir for first time in 900-year history|website=St Paul's Cathedral}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |website=BBC |title=Girls join St Paul's Cathedral choir for first time |date=30 June 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn38gy1zkk5o}}</ref>

During school terms, the choir sings [[Evensong]] six times per week, the service on Mondays being sung by a visiting choir (or occasionally said) and that on Thursdays being sung by the vicars choral alone. On Sundays, the choir also sings at Mattins and the 11:30 am Eucharist.<ref name=worship-music />

Many notable musicians have been organists, choir masters and choristers at St Paul's Cathedral, including the composers [[John Redford]], [[Thomas Morley]], [[John Blow]], [[Jeremiah Clarke]], [[Maurice Greene (composer)|Maurice Greene]] and [[John Stainer]], while well-known performers have included [[Alfred Deller]], [[John Shirley-Quirk]] and [[Anthony Way]] as well as the conductors [[Charles Groves]] and [[Paul Hillier]] and the poet [[Walter de la Mare]].