The best treble choirs based in London and in towns close by, as ranked by me, based on concerts I attended in 2018. All the concerts were held in London venues.
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Choir of New College, Oxford
Choir of St Georges Chapel, Windsor
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford
Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School
Trinity Boys' Choir
Temple Church Choir
Westminster Abbey Choir
Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School
Ealing Abbey Choir
Bromley Boy Singers
St Pauls Cathedral Choir
Tiffin Boys' Choir
Westminster Cathedral Choir
The top spot was difficult to decide, but I think based on their superb, mostly acapella, concert in Cadogan Hall earlier in the year and their lovely Christmas concert in the Royal Festival Hall, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge just edge it. In the past they've too often sang with accompaniment that drowned them out, but this year they got it spot on.
The Choir of New College, Oxford has some excellent trebles and I love the emphasis on giving chances for solo performances. Very narrowly beaten, and only because I remember, at the concert early in the year, being annoyed that a third of the choir was obscured by a massive harpsichord placed right in the middle of the stage!
The Choir of St Georges Chapel, Windsor had a super sound and the choir was amazingly well drilled, sitting down on their seats in unison at the Organ intervals! If I ever marry a prince, I'd be quite happy to have them sing at my wedding too...
The Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford have given some terrific performances in the past, and their vocal quality is still excellent, only song selection put them lower for me.
Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School will undoubtedly be familiar to some here. Their selection of music this year wasn't as much to my taste as in the past, although their performance of Handel's Messiah was once again excellent. There was also a joyous moment for me at that concert when I looked up from my second row seat into the front row of the choir and almost said out loud "OMG that's Oli...!"
Trinity Boys Choir has its fingers in many pies, with some excellent soloists, smaller tour choirs and a varied repertoire. I have never been disappointed to hear them.
Temple Church Choir always has a fantastic sound. However, Temple Church as a concert venue is appalling. Guessing the best place to sit is nigh impossible.
Westminster Abbey Choir is fine, but I've never left feeling blown away by their singing. Also getting a decent seat at some of the concerts there is almost as challenging as Libera... I once gambled on a restricted view seat and the ONLY thing I could see was a massive pillar... and I wish I was exaggerating...
Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School drops down in my ranking this year. I've neither enjoyed their repertoire that much nor been that impressed by the singing, at least compared to some past concerts of theirs.
Ealing Abbey Choir is a new find for me for 2018 and I was impressed. I attended a concert of theirs for remembrance day and I remember being pleasantly surprised by the quality of their singing.
Bromley Boy Singers can at times be really lovely, but they've also given one of the dullest concerts I've been to.
St Pauls Cathedral Choir sung in a combined theatre/concert event in the OBE chapel under the cathedral in June last year. Good, but nothing that stood out for me as exceptional.
My ranking for Tiffin Boys' choir is maybe a little unfair as I only heard them as part of Verdi's Requiem. Although, I have previously attended a concert that was recorded for BBC radio and even at that one they were good, but not brilliant.
On the other hand, Westminster Cathedral choir were very poor at the one concert of theirs I attended this year, so they take the bottom spot. I will say that they have been better in previous concerts.
There are a handful of other choirs in London I know about such as the Choir of the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, but they very rarely do proper concerts. I've also left out some other smaller and mixed choirs I heard last year.