Provost Francis Andrews (1718–74) established the first choir in the College Chapel in 1762, just two years before the appointment of Garret Wesley, the Earl of Mornington, as the first Professor of Music to the College in 1764. Records show that Mornington wrote music for performance in the College Chapel, notably a Te Deum and Jubilate for the Sunday following the installation of the Duke of Bedford as Chancellor of the University in 1768. The performance of Mornington’s music came thirty years before the consecration of the current Chapel building in 1798.

(Image: The Earl of Mornington)

From the eighteenth century it was common for singers to hold simultaneous memberships of the choirs of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, and the TCD Chapel. The promise of multiple sources of income attracted many singers and organists to Dublin from elsewhere in the British Isles. Choral music in the College Chapel was dependent on cathedral singers for nearly three hundred years until the late 1960s when an independent choir was set up in the Chapel at Trinity. Organ and choral scholarships were offered and a choir of twenty five voices was established.

(Image: St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin)

The roles of organ scholar and conductor of Chapel Choir were assumed by the organist with the records showing occasional help from an assistant organist. The first appointment of a conductor to Chapel Choir was in 1989. The current arrangement of organ scholar and conductor has been in place since 1995; they are both under the guidance of a professional Director of Chapel Music.

(Image: The Chapel Organ façade)

The TCD Chapel Choir sings every Sunday at 10:45 Eucharist and every Thursday at 17:15 Evensong. It has performed in national and international venues in both sacred and secular contexts, for broadcast on RTÉ and the BBC, and as part of a busy schedule of concerts and services that take place in the College throughout the year.

(Image: The Chapel Choir in rehearsal)