[2] The group was formed in 1973 by Peter Phillips, a music student of David Wulstan and Dennis Arnold, who in 1972–1975 was an organ scholar at St John's College, Oxford.

Phillips invited the members of chapel choirs from Oxford and Cambridge to form an amateur Renaissance vocal music ensemble, which turned professional after ten years of concert-giving.

From the first performance in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford on November 3, 1973, Phillips aimed to produce a distinctive sound, influenced by choirs he admired, in particular the renowned Clerkes of Oxenford, directed by David Wulstan.

[3][4] Since winning a Gramophone Award in 1987, The Tallis Scholars has been recognised as one of the world's leading ensembles specializing in Renaissance polyphony.

In April 1994, they sang Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus in the Vatican's newly restored Sistine Chapel,[6] and in February 1994, they performed in Rome's Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of the composer Palestrina.

[19] In 2000, the group established The Tallis Scholars Summer Schools, a program providing amateur singers and promising young professionals the opportunity to be coached by Phillips and other members of the ensemble in their specialist repertoire.

[citation needed] The Tallis Scholars has performed and recorded Russian Orthodox repertoire, including music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky, and contemporary works by Norbert Moret, Ivan Moody, Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and Eric Whitacre.

[citation needed] In 2013, The New York Times described The Tallis Scholars as a "superb a cappella ensemble founded and conducted by Peter Phillips".

In 2012, the singers again received the Diapason d'Or de l'Année award, and in 2013 they were elected by a popular vote to the Gramophone's Hall of Fame.