THE BOYS' CHOIR
The Escolania — Montserrat's Centuries-Old Boys' Choir
The Escolania de Montserrat is one of Europe's oldest choir schools, documented since 1307 — what it is, what the boys sing, and when you might hear them.
See Montserrat day trips on GetYourGuide ↗One of Europe's oldest choir schools
The Escolania de Montserrat is among the oldest continuously operating choir schools in Europe, with a written reference to the institution surviving from as far back as 1307 — including a mention of the black-and-white tunic the choristers still wear today. That places its documented history at well over seven centuries, run alongside the monastery itself and tied closely to its religious life from the start. It's this unbroken continuity, as much as the sound of the choir in the basilica, that makes the Escolania one of Montserrat's genuine draws, distinct from any other choir a visitor is likely to encounter elsewhere.
A boarding school inside the monastery
The Escolania functions as a boarding school within the monastery complex, where a group of boys live and study together while training in music and singing alongside a standard academic curriculum. Historically the school has taken boys through a set age range, from around primary-school age into their early teens, at which point their voices break and their time as choristers naturally ends. That turnover has renewed the choir generation after generation for centuries, with new boys arriving each year even as older ones move on, keeping the sound and the institution continuous rather than fixed to any one group of singers.
The Virolai — Montserrat's anthem
Among the pieces most associated with the choir is the Virolai, a hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat with words written by the Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer and music composed by Josep Rodoreda, dating to 1880. It functions almost as an unofficial anthem of Montserrat itself, sung on significant occasions and recognised well beyond the monastery's walls across Catalonia. Hearing it performed by the Escolania inside the basilica — where its melody has now been sung for well over a century — is one of the more genuinely memorable moments a Montserrat visit can offer, religious background or not.
When the choir sings
On most days the school is in session, the Escolania sings in the basilica around midday and again in the early evening, though the exact timing can shift from what's commonly quoted and isn't guaranteed on every single visit. School holidays, rehearsal schedules, tours, and the choir's own internal calendar all affect whether they'll be singing on any given day. If hearing them matters to your plans, it's worth checking the current schedule against your tour's timing directly before booking, rather than assuming a performance will simply line up with whenever you happen to arrive at the monastery.
A tradition that keeps evolving
The Escolania has continued to change alongside its long history rather than staying frozen in an older form — in recent years the school opened its doors to girls for the first time, a shift reported as breaking with centuries of an all-boys tradition. The choir also performs and records well beyond the basilica itself, touring internationally and releasing recordings that have carried its reputation far past Catalonia and Spain. Even with those changes, the daily singing inside the Montserrat basilica remains the core of what the institution does, largely as it always has.
Hearing them if you visit
There's no way to guarantee a performance will line up with your own visit, and the choir doesn't sing for private requests or step outside its normal schedule for tour groups, whatever a driver or guide might promise. But when the timing does align, hearing young voices carry through a basilica already centuries old, standing in front of the Black Madonna the choir has sung to for generations, is the kind of moment that's genuinely hard to plan for in advance and easy to remember long after the rest of the day has faded from memory.
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