The Carmelite Priory in Kensington, London (W8 4BB), is one of only a handful of Catholic churches in the UK to maintain a tradition of professional music.

As of September 2022, the Choir has been able to return to the church to sing Mass; however rather than every week as before, this is normally the first Sunday of the month at the 12.15pm Mass.

This post-Covid reduction to the Choir’s singing follows 2019’s dramatic reduction of the Choir’s funding - details here. What was for many years a professional octet of singers each week is now normally four singers at any given service. There is some pride in the fact that singers from the Choir have moved on to international solo careers as well as positions in other major London churches, including Westminster Cathedral, The London Oratory and Farm Street. It remains possible to have the Choir also sing for Weddings and Funerals at the church (and elsewhere by arrangement) - please feel free to make an enquiry via the link below.

In its heyday, the Choir became known for its innovative project-based approach to music programming. The first project in 2016-17, Cardoso450, marked the 450th anniversary of the birth of the Carmelite composer Frei Manuel Cardoso and saw the Choir perform his Masses and Motets alongside music by his contemporaries, composers from the ‘golden age’ of Portuguese polyphony. Sadly, the Choir’s exciting Forrest-Heyther Partbooks project was not able to continue in 2019 owing to the Choir’s reduced resources.