The University of Oxford’s Magdalen College Choir, one of England’s oldest and most distinguished collegiate choirs, will admit girl choristers from September 2027, ending an all-male tradition that has continued since the choir’s foundation in 1480.

Until now, Magdalen College Choir has consisted of boy choristers drawn from Magdalen College School alongside adult clerks. The change follows on from Magdalen College School’s decision to transition to a mixed school. Girls will be welcomed into years three and four in September 2027, and into year seven from 2030.

Magdalen College Choir. Photo supplied

The choir, based at the University of Oxford college where conductor and broadcaster Anna Lapwood studied organ, has traditionally comprised boy choristers from Magdalen College School alongside adult clerks. Since 2010, women students have sung weekly chapel services through the Consort of Voices.

Director of Music Mark Williams, who holds the historic title Informator Choristarum, described the move as “quite a turning point” in the ensemble’s near 550-year history. He said the first girls would sing as trebles from the top of Magdalen Tower for the college’s famed May Morning ceremony in...