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| St. Paul's Choir School | |
|---|---|
| Name | St. Paul's Choir School |
| Established | 1963 |
| Type | Private, choir boarding/day school |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic Church, Cathedral of Saint Paul? |
| City | New York City |
| Country | United States |
St. Paul's Choir School is a Roman Catholic boys' choir school associated with a cathedral choir tradition in the United States. Founded in the mid-20th century, the school combines a rigorous liturgical music program with a classical academic curriculum for choristers drawn from a diverse urban population. Its program links sacred repertoire, choral training, and touring, producing singers who have performed with leading ensembles and appeared in major cultural institutions.
The school's origins reflect influences from European cathedral traditions exemplified by Westminster Abbey, Notre-Dame de Paris, Sistine Chapel Choir, St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, and the Vienna Boys' Choir. Founders and early supporters invoked models associated with figures such as Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Francis Spellman, and liturgical reform movements tied to the Second Vatican Council. Early American patrons included individuals and institutions linked to Juilliard School, Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and diocesan cathedrals such as Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Over decades the choir engaged with composers and conductors like Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler, Igor Stravinsky, John Rutter, Olivier Messiaen, Arvo Pärt, and Leopold Stokowski through commissions, collaborations, and festival appearances. Administrative leaders negotiated relations with boards and benefactors including foundations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and arts councils connected to municipal and federal agencies.
The campus sits amid institutions and landmarks in New York City proximate to sites like Central Park, Times Square, Columbia University, Fordham University, Brooklyn Bridge, and performing venues including Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Facilities typically include rehearsal spaces comparable to chamber settings at Carnegie Hall and liturgical performance spaces modeled after chapels at Harvard University and Yale University. Practice rooms house organ instruments and keyboard resources reflecting builders like C. B. Fisk and models inspired by houses such as Notre-Dame de Paris; library holdings encompass scores by Palestrina, Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Schütz, William Byrd, and contemporaries like Benjamin Britten and Olivier Messiaen. Administrative offices liaise with cultural organizations including New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and diocesan archives.
The curriculum emphasizes liturgical repertoire drawn from traditions associated with Gregorian chant, Mass in B minor (Bach), mansions of polyphony by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and modern works by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Giuseppe Verdi, Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi, Arnold Schoenberg, and Gustav Mahler. Directors have collaborated with conductors and composers like Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Neeme Järvi, Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, and Leonard Bernstein. The program includes sight-singing, solfège methods akin to those used in conservatories such as Curtis Institute of Music and pedagogical approaches influenced by teachers from Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, and continental schools like Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Academic coursework follows standards comparable to preparatory programs at Horace Mann School, Trinity School (New York City), Lawrenceville School, and liberal arts frameworks at Harvard University and Yale University for alumni trajectories. Core subjects coordinate with advanced study opportunities mirroring Advanced Placement courses affiliated with College Board and international exposure like curricula discussed in contexts such as Oxford University and Cambridge University. Faculty profiles have included educators with connections to Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, New York University, and conservatory networks.
Admissions involve auditions and interviews similar to procedures used by Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Young Artists Program, and competitive choral schools such as Choir of King's College, Cambridge and the Vienna Boys' Choir. Student life combines residential and day schedules parallel to models at Phillips Exeter Academy and Phillips Academy Andover with commitments to liturgical services, rehearsals, and academic classes. Extracurricular ties engage with community organizations like NPR, WQXR-FM, Lincoln Center Education, New Victory Theater, and civic institutions including City Hall (New York City) and cultural programs supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The choir has performed at major venues and events including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral (New York City), international festivals such as the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and state occasions comparable to performances at St. Peter's Basilica, national commemorations tied to Kennedy Center events, and collaborations with ensembles like New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Alumni and faculty have gone on to roles in institutions including Metropolitan Opera, Juilliard School, New York Philharmonic, Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and academic posts at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, and conservatories such as Curtis Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music. Individual names associated with broader choral and orchestral fields include conductors, composers, and performers who later appeared with ensembles like English Concert, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and festivals such as Tanglewood Music Festival and Aldeburgh Festival.
Category:Choir schools Category:Catholic schools in the United States