The Choir sings at the Eucharist every Sunday, at choral matins once a month (the second Sunday of each month) and on various feast days and special occasions such as Christmas and Easter, weddings and memorial services. It adheres mainly to the standard cathedral repertoire: this comprises the whole gamut, from renaissance music to pieces specially commissioned from contemporary local composers.
The Choir is a felicitous mix of young and old, long serving and newcomers, and of various nationalities – roughly half and half Hong Kong Chinese and expatriates.
Raymond Fu succeeded Cecilia Kwok, his former teacher, as Choirmaster in 1979, and was concurrently head of the music department of St. Paul’s College till August 2013. Mrs Kwok continued as Cathedral Organist until 1991, when she retired. Peter Yue, another of her former students, then took up the post, in which he remains to this day. In August 2015, Felix Yeung succeeded Raymond Fu as the Director of Music of the Cathedral in addition to his music directorship of the Province of HKSKH.
Choir members, reflecting the transient nature of parts of Hong Kong’s community, stay on the whole for two or three years before moving on; five years confers veteran status.
Each year the Cecilia Kwok Prizes are presented to members who have maintained a satisfactory attendance record.
The choir has already produced three CDs: The first, “Christmas Music” in 1993; the second, “Faith, Hope, Love” in 1995 and the third, “Season of Love” in 2006. A new album will be released in 2019 to mark the 170th anniversary of the cathedral.