South London / Around the world
Libera brings together young singers from across South London. Their sound draws on English choral traditions, with classical, sacred and contemporary influences.
Help young voices flourish
Support musical education, new recordings and performances. Your generosity helps boys develop their voices and share their music.
SOUTH LONDON · AROUND THE WORLD
Libera’s distinctive sound has captivated audiences around the world. Rooted in the English choral tradition, their music blends classical, sacred and contemporary influences into soaring melodies and ethereal harmonies. Their recordings have achieved success in both classical and mainstream charts, introducing millions of listeners to music that is uplifting and deeply moving.
The boys who make up Libera are aged 7 to 16 and come from a wide range of backgrounds and schools across South London. In many ways, they are entirely ordinary: they enjoy sport, spend time with friends and lead busy school lives. Yet when they sing together, they create something extraordinary—a sound of remarkable purity.
Performing in their signature flowing white robes, often in magnificent cathedrals and historic churches, Libera brings soaring voices and breathtaking architecture together. Their concerts and recordings have built a devoted international following, particularly in the UK, the US, Japan and South East Asia, sharing a distinctive musical experience with audiences across the globe.
Performed during the climactic Vigil of World Youth Day 2016 in Kraków, Poland, before Pope Francis and a congregation of more than 1.2 million pilgrims.
Sang at the Papal Mass during Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the United States, performing before 60,000 people at New York’s Yankee Stadium.
Featured guest artists at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., in tribute to Brian Wilson, broadcast on CBS television.
Appeared at the Starkey Hearing Foundation Awards, performing before an audience that included President Bill Clinton.
Recorded concert DVDs for PBS Television in the Netherlands, Ireland and the United States, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
Appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and in UK television programmes including Songs of Praise and Sunday Morning Live.
Performed extensively in many of Britain’s finest cathedrals and abbeys, including Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, Ely Cathedral and Guildford Cathedral.
Performed at many of Japan’s leading concert venues, including Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Line Cube Shibuya, Orix Theater, Osaka Festival Hall and Kobe Kokusai Hall, together with appearances at Universal Studios Japan.
Undertaken concert tours across North America, Europe and Asia, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Malta and Ireland.
Continued to perform internationally to sold-out audiences, building one of the world’s largest followings for any boys’ vocal group.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
Libera is a UK charity based in South London with a mission to keep alive and actively encourage the tradition of boys’ choral singing. The charity arranges the recruitment and manages the training and performances of youngsters who come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Through learning to sing a broad range of vocal music – from ancient plainsong, across the classics to contemporary church music – the boys are given an intense training which is widely regarded as one of the best initial musical activities. This is because it teaches children to have a concept of the sound they need to make in their head before they produce the notes with their voice. Libera boys develop teamwork, self-discipline and confidence, and they experience the joy of achieving the highest possible performance standards, on a par with professional singing groups.
Libera boys attend many different inner-city state schools. The only criterion for entry is that they should have musical potential. Most join between 7 – 9 years old. They rehearse and perform as Libera for about 8 hours a week, and lead worship in various churches in and around South London. Boys are given the experience of singing in a wide range of sacred and secular venues together with studio based recordings, and performances for TV/Radio and other media.
With its distinctive musical style and high standards, Libera is able to reach beyond London and perform to large audiences at home and abroad, furthering not just the reputation of the group but also the concept of boys singing in general, which in many countries is nowadays quite a rarity.
Although some of the Libera activities cover their own expenses, and we receive royalty income from past recordings, this does not fund all the day to day running costs of the group and the ongoing musical training of the boys. These costs are supported by charitable contributions from generous donors. This generosity ensures that the boys are able to perform to such exceptionally high standards and also that Libera is able to perform in places where our costs are not covered by income.
As boys grow older and their voices change many continue to sing with their new harmony parts – alto, tenor and bass. Some pass on their skills by mentoring younger ones and some take on supporting roles in sound engineering, stage management, musical arrangement and accompanying performances.
Being a part of Libera is life changing for many of the boys. With their secure grounding in a shared activity working as a team to achieve the highest possible standards, the choir can offer a training for life and many go on to achieve excellence in their chosen careers whether in the performing arts or not.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
Help young voices flourish.
Libera is an internationally acclaimed boys’ choir and registered UK charity dedicated to preserving and sharing the unique tradition of boys’ choral singing.
Through musical training, concerts and recordings, Libera gives boys the opportunity to develop their talents, confidence and musicianship while sharing their music with audiences around the world.
Helping young singers develop their voices, musicianship, confidence and performance skills.
Enabling Libera to create new music, make recordings and present performances for audiences in the UK and overseas.
Helping ensure that financial circumstances never prevent a boy from benefiting from the opportunities Libera provides.
Every donation, whatever its size, helps another generation of boys experience the opportunities Libera provides.
We are always pleased to hear from individuals, trusts, companies and organisations interested in supporting a particular concert, recording, tour or other project.
Purchasing Libera CDs and merchandise, or streaming our music, also helps support our work and enables us to continue creating and sharing new music.
Discover the music your support helps make possible.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
Libera is always keen to hear from boys who would like to sing with us.
Our singers are aged 7 to 16 and come from schools and a wide range of backgrounds around South London. Boys usually join between the ages of 7 and 10, although older boys with appropriate musical experience can also be considered.
No previous choir experience is necessary. We are looking for boys who enjoy singing, have musical potential and would like to be part of a friendly and committed group.
An extraordinary musical experience
As part of Libera, boys rehearse and sing regularly at church services in South London, but being part of Libera also offers opportunities far beyond weekly rehearsals and services. Our boys perform in concerts in the UK and around the world, make recordings and music videos, and often appear on television.
Along the way they receive high-quality musical training, learn to read music and develop confidence, teamwork and performance skills.
Libera has performed at major venues around the world, including cathedrals, churches and concert halls in North America, Asia and Europe, as well as throughout the UK.
Interested?
If you know a boy who enjoys singing and would like to find out whether Libera might be right for him, we’d be very pleased to hear from you.
Use the joining enquiry form and we’ll get in touch with more information about joining and arranging an audition.
If the form doesn’t work for you please email us at
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
If you are interested in licensing any of our music please complete the music licensing enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Please provide as much information as possible, including how you wish to use the music and movie synopsis if relevant. Also please include a Spotify or Youtube link so we can identify the exact song you are interested in.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
As Libera we are privileged to be able to take our music around the world, and we are so grateful for the interest and appreciation shown by our many supporters.
The boys devote a lot of their spare time to singing with Libera; they love what they do and take pride in it, so they are immensely rewarded by the warm response and attention they receive from our followers.
The performers of Libera also have very active lives outside of the group, which are entirely unrelated. They have their own families and friends, interests and schools. We are sure that everyone understands that as young children, their private and school lives need to remain separate from their Libera performances, and their personal worlds must not be confused with their public.
Most of our followers instinctively honour this, and do not attempt to contact the boys individually; or to post private information about the boys; or to publish news about, or discuss on line their school activities; or to assume that school or church/cathedral events can be regarded as opportunities to make a connection with the boys. Details such as where the they live, where they go to school and so forth, are understood by our supporters to be personal, and they know that any public discussion or posting of such information is not appropriate and could pose a risk to the safety of the boys or prove an embarrassment to them personally.
We wish to be able to continue to travel, perform and record as Libera, but everyone will understand that if ever it seemed that there was a threat to the safety of our boys, real or perceived, or to their comfort and well-being, it would be necessary to restrict and constrain the public activities and appearances of the group to the detriment of Libera’s future and the continued enjoyment of our many supporters.
Please continue to respect the boys’ privacy and encourage others to do so too.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
When we tour in the USA we are lucky to have fantastic support from Libera of the US. Libera of the US is a non-profit organisation run by some dedicated volunteers, whose aim is to help us with practical and financial support when we visit the USA. Libera of the US has 501(c)3 status which means that US Taxpayers can make tax efficient donations.
You can find out more at uslibera.org
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
Our current and recent albums are released by various record companies, which are international organisations with links all over the world. Generally each country makes its own choice as to when to release CDs – or indeed whether to release them at all, so the release of a CD in one country does not mean that it will be released in other countries. And typically release dates differ worldwide. However we believe many supporters have been successful in having CDs and DVDs shipped overseas from Amazon.
Yes indeed. In fact we have produced 3 DVDs. Our first was recorded in Leiden, Holland, with full orchestra and sumptuous lighting in the atmospheric setting of the St Pieterskerk. We have also produced a Christmas DVD called ‘Angels Sing: Christmas in Ireland’ in the wonderful Armagh Cathedral. And we have recorded a concert in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In addition to DVDs we regularly produce new music videos on our YouTube channel
When we are on tour we find supporters like to give gifts to the boys. This is a lovely thought and the boys are always delighted to receive them. But some gifts are not suitable. When we are on tour we have very strict aircraft baggage allowances and getting large items home safely can be difficult.
Additionally we have to be aware of food allergies, and when we are overseas we can not be sure what ingredients food and sweets may contain. So we ask supporters:
We do not publish sheet music – partly due to rights and copyright issues but also because our music is constantly being re-arranged for the current set of boys. A few songs have been transcribed and have been made available on music on demand sites, but these are not official transcriptions. A few tracks from the albums are based on existing pieces like ‘Be still my soul’ which is a hymn version of the chorale in Finlandia by Sibelius. These may be found at music shops in other arrangements.
Simply enter your email address in the email updates field on our Home Page and click Submit. You will receive a confirmation email from us and you need to click the link included in this email to complete the sign up process.
We mainly use our mailing list to announce upcoming concert tours and CD releases, rather than as a regular newsletter. For this reason, and because we understand how frustrating it can be to receive lots of unwanted communications, we try to use it very sparingly. If you want to read more news about us please join our online community at Facebook, or follow us on X (Twitter) or Instagram – and keep checking back here at our Web site for news, blogs and events.
ABOUT LIBERA · MORE INFORMATION
Click on our Friends’ Logos for more information.
