Frideswide Voices is the girls’ choir of Christ Church Cathedral, singing each week in the Cathedral alongside the Lay and Academical Clerks. The girls, aged 7 to 14, do not attend the Cathedral school, but instead are drawn from schools across Oxfordshire. Girl choristers come to the Cathedral at least twice a week to rehearse, study and sing services in the Cathedral, and are provided with a rich, intensive musical education from a team of tutors.
They are directed by Helen Smee, who conducts their weekly rehearsals and services and leads a team of specialist tutors who deliver weekly theory, singing and musicianship training to the choristers.
Established in 2014 under the auspices of The Frideswide Foundation, a charitable trust, the choir was founded to promote opportunities for girls, aged between 7 and 14, to sing within the liturgy in Oxford college chapels. Between 2016 and 2019, Frideswide Voices was been in residence at Christ Church Cathedral for Michaelmas Term each year as part of an annual rotation between Christ Church, New College and Magdalen College. It was announced in May 2019 that, from September 2019, the girls' choir would have a permanent home at Christ Church as part of the choral foundation.
The choristers sing Evensong each Wednesday in term-time with the Lay and Academical Clerks, as well as for various other services throughout the year. They are in residence for three weekends across the academic year, and join the boy choristers for a variety of major Cathedral services.
Information about becoming a girl chorister at Christ Church, and details of open evenings and voice trials, can be found on in the section on Joining the Choir, or by contacting us by email: frideswide.voices@chch.ox.ac.uk
