Oxford’s Magdalen College Choir will admit girl choristers for first time in over 500 years

24 April 2026, 11:57

The choir at Anna Lapwood’s former college has featured only male singers since it was founded in 1480.

The Oxford college where Anna Lapwood studied has announced that it will admit girl choristers from September 2027, in a break from its 547-year history to date.

Until now, Magdalen College Choir has consisted of boy choristers drawn from Magdalen College School alongside adult clerks. In 2010 the Consort of Voices was founded, allowing women students to sing with the choir on a weekly basis.

The change follows on from Magdalen College School’s decision to transition to a mixed school. Girls will be welcomed into years three and four in September 2027, and into year seven from 2030.

All students at the school aged 8 to 13 will be eligible for a choristership, meaning girls could join the choir from next September.

Read more: Girl choristers now outnumber boys in English cathedrals for first time in history

Choir climbs 163ft tower and sings from rooftop in Cambridge college tradition

The choir’s director, known as the Informator Choristarum, Mark Williams, told Cherwell the inclusion of girls in the choir marked “quite a turning point” in the choir’s near five-and-a-half century history.

Magdalen College Choir sings daily church services in the Chapel, with one of the annual highlights coming each year on 1 May. The College’s May Morning tradition sees the choir welcome in spring from the top of Magdalen Tower at dawn.

Williams said: “The first girls will sing as trebles from the top of the tower on May Morning 2028, and the first fully-mixed cohort of trebles will sing the May Morning ceremony in 2032.”

Read more: Dive-bombing squirrel falls into chorister’s folder during Good Friday service

Exclusive Classic FM session: Allegri’s Miserere at St Paul’s Cathedral

To accommodate the planned changes, the number of chorister places will increase from 12 to 18, and additional full bursaries will be made available. The College currently covers 60% of choristers’ fees.

Magdalen College Choir’s move to include girls follows a trend that has swept other historic choral institutions in recent years.

In 2019, a report in The Times saw that girl choristers outnumbered boys in English cathedrals, for the first time in history. Windsor Chapel Choir and St Paul’s Cathedral Choir both admitted their first girl choristers in 2022 and 2024 respectively. More recently, King’s College Choir, Cambridge, launched its first ever all-female choir in December 2025.