Information for Visiting Choirs at Durham Cathedral

We are very grateful to the choirs who come throughout the year to help maintain the Cathedral's 1000-year-old musical tradition by singing during holiday periods, or on the Cathedral Choir's day off.

During term-times we can generally only offer Mondays to visiting choirs. During holiday periods we welcome bookings from single days up to whole weeks (Monday - Sunday), and at half-terms, one weekend is usually available for visiting choirs. Whilst Summer bookings are very much in demand, and are often made several years in advance, the Easter, post-Christmas and half-term periods are less busy, and choirs are encouraged to consider applying to come at these times instead of the summer, if possible.

The usual routine of services is as follows:

Monday to Saturday

Evensong at 5.15 pm

Sunday

Matins at 10.00 am

Sung Eucharist at 11.15 am

Evensong at 3.30 pm

Bookings are made by applying to the Sub-Organist, Keith Wright, by writing to him at The Chapter Office, The College, Durham DH1 3EQ, or by emailing sub.organist@durhamcathedral.co.uk. It is useful at the outset if choirs can be as specific as possible about when they would like to visit. Once dates have been identified, and a provisional booking has been made, the procedure is to submit a recent recording of the choir singing straightforward service music, which must include Psalms and Responses, in addition to any other material. Only once an acceptable recording has been approved will a booking be confirmed. References are not essential, and cannot be sent in lieu of a recording.

A sample set of complete instructions for visiting choirs is available to download in PDF format (also available in MS Word format).