Music

St Mary's Choir

The music at our Sunday Eucharist (9:30am) and Evensong (6:30pm) is led by St Mary’s Church Choir, an accomplished group of mixed voices who tackle everything from Renaissance polyphony and Bach motets to spirituals and Taize chants.

The focus of our activities is the Friday evening rehearsal. We have between 12 and 16 choristers aged between 7 and 13, who rehearse at 6:00pm, including activities based on the Royal School of Church Music’s ‘Voice for Life’ scheme. On alternate weeks the choristers rehearse with the sopranos from 7:30 to 8:00, and in the intervening weeks most stay to the Friday People youth club for games and Bible teaching.

We have between 14 and 20 adults, who rehearse at 8 till 9.30, followed by bonding at the pub!

There are usually 12 – 18 adult singers and 12 choristers at Sunday Eucharist and other major services. Between 6 and 10 adults sing at Evensong with a smaller group of senior choristers. We stretch to a larger choir including guest singers on the occasions when we sing Choral Evensong, with settings of the responses and canticles, as you would hear in a cathedral service. The choir always sings an anthem or motet, and gives a strong lead to the hymns, occasionally adding a descant to give the final verse a lift.

Youth Choir & Gospel Choir

There is also an informal choir of younger singers leading the music at 11:15am Informal Worship. Once a month, a Gospel choir sings at this service, and rehearses at 12pm afterwards. This choir is fun, suitable for anyone who has never sung in a church choir before and is particularly aimed at the younger generation!

Concerts & Special Events

From time to time we present a concert in St Mary’s Church. We have performed Handel’s Messiah and Coronation Anthems, J.S.Bach’s St John Passion, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Stainer’s Crucifixion, as well as concerts consisting of anthems and motets for the church’s seasons, such as Advent, Lent and Passiontide. These events usually involve a larger choir, with St Mary’s regular singers plus guests. For details of our most recent concert in October 2008 click here.

The annual candle-lit Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols takes place on the Sunday evening before Christmas and is one of the events which regularly sees the church packed to the rafters. On this occasion some of the music is provided by St Mary’s team of bell-ringers, playing hand-bells from the gallery. Among other services with special music are the Service of Advent Light with Advent carols, and the Good Friday Liturgy with Victoria’s setting of the St John Passion.

Cathedral Visits

St Mary’s Choir also sings at cathedrals. As well as annual invitations to sing services at St.Paul’s and Southwark Cathedrals, we also sang at Beverley Minster in October 2009, and Waltham Abbey in July 2010.

St Mary's Choir at St Paul's Cathedral August 2009

If you would like to find out more about St Mary’s Choir, perhaps with a view to singing with us, please get in touch with Director of Music Max Barley by emailing .

Similarly, do get in touch if you would like to be involved in the music of the Sunday morning Informal Worship at 11:15am. Alternatively, come to one of our Sunday services and speak with Max or members of the choir. We shall be very pleased to welcome you.