Music at St Mary’s
Led by our Director of Music and Organist, the musical life at St Mary’s is particularly vibrant and diverse and is centered around our wonderful Choir and our exciting St Mary’s Choristers programme.
St Mary’s Choir
The Choir sings at the 9:30am Eucharist each week and has at its heart our 6:30pm Choral Evensong service, sung every week throughout the year (apart from during August and the Sundays following Christmas and Easter). Additionally the Choir sings Cathedral services several times a year (Ripon, St Paul’s and Durham Cathedrals and Westminster Abbey in 2022/3) and regularly tours abroad, most recently to Toulouse.
Drawn from the congregation and beyond, the Choir includes professional musicians and enthusiastic amateur singers of all ages and from all walks of life, who share a vision for performing to an high standard and serving the congregation in worship. We are committed to offering the best music of all eras in worship, from the Renaissance masters such as Tallis, Byrd or Palestrina through to cutting-edge choral composers of today such as James MacMillan, Cecilia McDowall and Jonathan Dove. Commitment to new music resulted in our recent, thrilling ‘Seven Last Words’ project, commissioning new pieces from different composers including Esther Bersweden, Owain Park and Ken Burton for a special Service of Meditation on Palm Sunday 2022.
Joining the Choir
If you enjoy singing and would like to explore joining the St Mary’s Choir, we would love to chat with you. Contact the Director of Music for an informal conversation.
You do not need to be a professional, or trained singer to join. Reading music is necessary as we sometimes need to learn complex music quite quickly, but apart from that if you can hold a tune well, have a heart for music in worship, and enjoy being part of a friendly, highly sociably-minded team then it could be for you. The Choir rehearses on Friday evenings from 7:45-9:15pm followed, more often than not, by a trip to one of the local pubs.
Choral Evensong
Whilst it is an ancient service, Choral Evensong is as relevant as ever to contemporary culture. Given our frenetic high-stress lives, perhaps this ‘oasis of peace’ is more important than ever before: glorious music, sung skillfully by the choir combines with prayers and scripture, giving us the space to linger in the presence of God before the start of each new week. If you have never experienced Choral Evensong, do drop in on a Sunday evening at 6:30pm and experience true refreshment!
Choral Scholarships
Our Choral and Organ Scholarship scheme, started in 2015, is an excellent way of supporting and nurturing young singers and musicians from local schools, colleges and conservatoires. The programme is currently being redeveloped and will be relaunched in September 2023. If you are an aspiring organist or singer, and would like to explore the scheme, we’d love to speak with you. Please contact Mark Underwood.