Merchant Taylors’ boys have a fantastic range of opportunities for extra-curricular Music.
There are currently 19 different ensembles, including two jazz bands, several chamber music groups, and various bands, choirs and orchestras. Around a quarter of boys at school learn an instrument or have singing lessons delivered by 21 visiting music teachers each week; these, and others who have music lessons outside of school, are all involved in the school’s extra-curricular music programme.
Music Tuition Terms and Conditions
A number of evening informal concerts are held at school throughout the year, with major musical events punctuating the department’s programme of performances each term. In the Autumn term highlights include the Autumn Concert and the Carol Service, with a biennial Musical Theatre produced at Merchant Taylors’ in conjunction with St Helen’s School. In the Spring term there is an annual concert at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in the City, and a Spring Concert at which the combined choirs of Merchant Taylors’ and St Helen’s perform a large-scale choral work towards the end of term. In April, the Spring Spectacular provides a fantastic finale to the year’s musical events.
Music tours abroad are organised biennially, with recent tours seeing Merchant Taylors’ musicians performing in Austria, the USA, Spain, and the Czech Republic. In Summer 2023 the Chamber Choir performed in Montpellier and Barcelona.
Ensembles at MTS
- Big Band
- Chamber Choir
- Chamber Orchestra
- Choir
- Concert Band
- Dixieland Band
- Guitar Ensemble
- Percussion Ensemble
- Recorder Consort
- Saxophone Ensemble
- Sinfonia
- String Quartet
- String Trio
- Symphony Orchestra
- Taylors’ Brass
- The Thomas White Singers
- Wind Band
- Wind Quintet
