Magdalen College’s celebrated choir is set to welcome girls as choristers for the first time since its establishment more than five centuries ago.

Dating back to 1480, the ensemble has earned a reputation as one of Britain’s finest vocal groups, most notably for its annual tradition of performing at dawn from the college’s Great Tower on May Morning.

The group has performed at the BBC Proms and undertaken international tours to the United States, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain in recent years.

Currently comprising 16 young singers drawn from Magdalen College School, which originated as the Song School attached to the college and announced last month its intention to admit both sexes from 2027, the choir will now offer positions equally to girls and boys between the ages of eight and 13.

To facilitate the inclusion of girls, the institution will increase the total number of chorister positions to 18.

The college will maintain its existing arrangement of covering two-thirds of school fees for all choristers and will additionally create a new supplementary bursary scheme capable of covering the full cost of education for choristers whose families require further financial assistance.

College president Dinah Rose stated that the institution takes tremendous pride in its musical heritage and expressed enthusiasm about reinforcing and broadening its commitment to the Choral Foundation as the 550th anniversary of the choir’s founding statutes approaches. She noted that from 2027, the choir would be accessible to any talented young vocalist irrespective of gender or economic circumstances.

Musical director and organist Mark Williams observed that performing daily within the college’s 15th-century chapel creates a profound sense of historical continuity. He described the move as an enormously thrilling advancement in the ongoing effort to sustain and nurture this living tradition.

Williams indicated that girls would begin joining the choir in Year 4 in September 2027, with a fully combined ensemble expected by 2031.

He noted that the college had studied the positive experiences of other institutions that had successfully introduced girl choristers, such as St John’s College Cambridge, St George’s Chapel Windsor, and Temple Church London. He expressed gratitude to colleagues throughout the choral world, former choir members, organists, and college alumni for their guidance and encouragement throughout the decision-making process.

Williams pointed to the college’s first female organ scholar, Anna Lapwood, who arrived at Magdalen in 2013 and has since built a distinguished career. He observed that the addition of women altos as academic clerks several years ago had brought valuable new dimensions to both the ensemble’s sound and its community, and expressed confidence that girl choristers would similarly strengthen and diversify the choir in numerous ways.