First girls become members of St Paul’s Cathedral choir

Girls have officially become full choristers at St Paul’s Cathedral for the first time.

The first two girls to join, 11-year-old Lila and 10-year-old Lois, are set to perform in the choir’s Choral Evensong service on Sunday after months of probation and preparation.

It will be the first time in the cathedral’s 900-year history that girls will officially be a full part of the choir.

The news means the two choristers will play an equal part in the singing of services, as well as at events of national importance.

Lila and Lois have been in training within the choir since September 2023 and on Saturday they got to try on their surplice, the white gown worn on top of black cassocks by choristers.

It follows an announcement in May 2022 that girls would join the choir, and that the cathedral, and St Paul’s Cathedral School, would “undertake the practical arrangements needed to provide a truly equal offer for girl and boy choristers”.

The plans included a fundraising campaign and measures to ensure the cathedral’s scholarship programme could be delivered equally to boys and girls.

At the time the Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd Dr David Ison, said it was “a long-held ambition to introduce girls’ voices into the cathedral choir” and the change would “create an exceptional new music opportunity for young people”.

Dame Sarah Mullally, the first female Bishop of London, attended the rehearsal and previously welcomed the decision to allow girls into the choir, saying: “The choir plays a key role in the worship not just of the Cathedral, but of the whole diocese.

“It will be wonderful to hear girls’ voices contributing to this.”