The Choir of the Temple Church consists of eighteen boy choristers and twelve choirmen, Its home is the historic and beautiful Temple Church in London, 800 years ago the regal chapel to the Knights Templar and now the collegiate chapel of the two legal societies Inner and Middle Temple. The choir’s primary role is to enhance the liturgy of the Temple Church and the many events of the legal societies of the two Inns. The choir is often heard in concert, along with the church’s fine Harrison & Harrison organ and the professional ensemble based at the church, The Temple Players.

The choir was founded in its present form on completion of the church’s 30-month restoration in 1842. In 1843, Dr Edward John Hopkins was appointed Organist of the Temple Church, and would serve in this capacity for over 50 years, establishing the Temple Church choir as one of the finest in London.

This tradition of high-quality music was maintained by Hopkins’ successors, Henry Walford Davies, and Dr George Thalben-Ball. Under Thalben-Ball, the choir reached a much larger audience through the new recording technology, including the famous recording of Mendelssohn’s O, for the Wings of a Dove with the Temple chorister Ernest Lough as the soloist.

In the last thirty years, the music of the church has been under the direction of Dr John Birch, Stephen Layton, James Vivian and the present Director of Music, Roger Sayer. The choir has recently released two CD recordings to great critical acclaim from both broadsheets and major music magazines, and the choristers appear on Hyperion’s new release of Britten’s St Nicholas. The choir is committed to the performance of new music, and has premiered new works by composers such as Thomas Adès. The Veil of the Temple was commissioned and composed for the Temple Church Choir and premiered in the Church in June 2003. In 2004 the choir took The Veil to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, and then to the Proms in this shortened concert version.