Exeter College Choir consists of approximately twenty singers drawn from the College and University. The Choir’s main purpose is to sing the three weekly choral services in Exeter Chapel. These allow singers to explore the depth and breadth of the choral repertoire, performed to the highest standard in a spectacular building, with thoughtful and invigorating liturgy. The Choir also records CDs, makes annual tours, gives concerts, and engages in community based activities, such as workshops for local school children.
In 1995 the Choir was refounded, replacing boy trebles and male countertenors with female sopranos and altos, and since then has excelled in the standard, quality, and scope of its performances.
Exeter College offers one organ scholarship every year and twelve choral scholarships, known as academical clerkships to students who study at Exeter. The rest of the Choir is made up of choral bursars, who are drawn from across the University. To find out more, read about organ and choral awards here.
The Choir of Exeter College remains the only choir in either Oxford or Cambridge to sing three services a week under the sole direction of an organ scholar and is widely regarded as one of the finest student ensembles in the country. The Choir has recently toured Sweden, Germany, Italy, Barcelona, and Paris. In 2026 they visited Malta, singing in internationally renowned venues including Mdina Cathedral, and St Paul’s Pro-Cathedral. The Choir also regularly leads Evensong services at home in the UK, having visited Westminster Abbey and Exeter, Truro, and St Paul’s Cathedrals. In 2027, the choir will tour to Vienna and sing services at Coventry Cathedral and Eton College.
The choir has fostered a close association with the Duke’s Consort, an early music collective directed by Luke Mitchell. We perform termly vespers services with the consort, in addition to an annual cantata in Trinity term. The choir regularly commissions new works with recent examples including collaborative projects with Jonathan Wikeley, Peter Hugh White, and Richard Pantcheff. The choir has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, and ClassicFM.
You can listen to the choir’s most recent recording, A Year at Exeter College, on Spotify.
Organ Recitals
Organ Recitals take place every Tuesday during term time at 1.10 pm. With free admission, and a regular audience, these feature an exciting array of players comprising visiting cathedral organists, London and international recitalists, other Oxford Organ Scholars and Directors of Music.
Find Out More
More information about organ and choral awards.
For information about the organs in Exeter College Chapel click here.
To find out more, contact the Chaplain.