The Schola Cantorum of The London Oratory School sings the Vigil Mass at the London Oratory every Saturday evening in term time and on major feast days for School Mass throughout the year. Founded in 1996, the choir gives Catholic boys aged seven to eighteen the opportunity of a choral education within the state-education system. In 2022 the School introduced the Newman Choral Scholarships, which are awarded to boys who have just finished school, enabling them to continue to sing with the Schola alongside their university studies. In addition to its liturgical role, the Schola has made many recordings and has toured widely abroad, performing throughout the USA and Europe.

In recent years the Schola has sung at the Spanish Cathedrals of Madrid, Granada, Segovia and Toledo, as well as at the Monastery of San Lorenzo el Real in El Escorial. During a recent tour to Venice, the Schola sang at St Mark’s Basilica, San Moisè and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. A tour to the East Coast of the USA included performances in Boston, New York and Washington, DC, while the choir’s most recent tour to the USA included appearances at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, and a number of the Californian Missions.

The Schola sang at the Canonization of John Henry Newman at St Peter’s, Rome, in 2019 as well as at a number of services and concerts in and around the Vatican, including a reception attended by HRH The Prince of Wales, and a private recital for the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI.

The choir is closely associated with Aid to the Church in Need, singing for services and events to help the charity’s work in providing support to persecuted Christians in the Middle East. The trebles also sing for a number of the Royal Ballet’s productions at the Royal Opera House, including The Dream and The Nutcracker. Recent concert performances by the Schola at the London Oratory include Monteverdi’s Vespers and J S Bach’s Mass in B minor, the St John and St Matthew Passions, and the Christmas Oratorio.