Close Shaves Choir Visit St Paul's Cathedral
February 7, 2025
Friday the 7 February saw the Norwich School Male Voice Choir and Norwich Cathedral Senior Boys travel to London for an incredible trip to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The trip, led by Connor Collerton, was hosted by William Bruce, the Cathedral’s Artistic Director of Choral Partnerships, who facilitated the amazing opportunity for the choir to sing for midday Eucharist underneath London’s iconic dome.
The invitation proceeded last year’s masterclass with Mr. Bruce in February 2024, which culminated in the boys singing the office of compline in Norwich Cathedral. With music packed and the day’s plans finalised, the choir took the 08:30 train to Liverpool Street, arriving at 10:20. From here, it was straight to the Cathedral to begin rehearsals in preparation for the service. Upon arrival, we were greeted by our host and led to the Cathedral Song School to workshop our pieces for an hour before making our way to the Cathedral floor for a final rehearsal. Eucharist commenced at 12:30 and was well attended by both the general public and a healthy number of choir parents! The Eucharist was accompanied by our own Director of Music, Jonathan Stamp, who very much enjoyed playing on St. Pauls’ beautiful “Willis on Wheels” organ, on which he played Felix Mendelssohn’s Fugue from Sonata 6 as our voluntary.
Once Eucharist had concluded and lunch had been eaten, the Choir were treated to a tour of the Cathedral. Amongst seeing a plethora of organs, statues and paintings, a particular highlight of the tour was our walk around the Crypt and the OBE Chapel. Here the pupils were able to pay their respects to famous musicians such as Hubert Parry and Arthur Sullivan, and famous ON, Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson. Our tour was concluded with something very exciting as the choir was taken to the famous spiral staircase featured in the Harry Potter movies where they sang one of our motets from the service – Si Iniquitates by Samuel Wesley.
The trip was incredibly special and a great way to culminate the sacred music element of the Male Voice Choir year. It is always great to see so many young men being so enthusiastic about singing together, and to share in such a fun and unique experience with these very talented pupils was an absolute joy.
The Male Voice Choir have enjoyed a well-earned rest over half term and will now begin work on our summer barbershop repertoire – so be sure to come and watch us at Gala and the Summer Spectacular!






