They perform regularly in services at the cathedral, and in concerts there and on international tours, including to Rome and the United States.

Choral singing had been present at the cathedral for centuries, but the Kölner Domchor was officially re-established in 1863, first performing in public on 1 November in a service with the Missa super Dixit Maria by Hans Leo Hassler and the offertory hymn O quam gloriosum by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

[3] The Kölner Domchor is a member of the international Pueri Cantores [de], an organisation for Catholic choirs for children and young people.

The choir was dedicated as a gift a composition commissioned for the occasion, Naji Hakim's setting of Psalm 122, Laetatus sum (I was glad).

[2][7] The first surviving recording of the Kölner Domchor dates from 1905, a shellac disc with pieces by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, conducted by Karl Cohen.