St Mary’s Choristers is a mixed children’s choir, offering young singers an opportunity to explore their musicality and lead the worship in their local parish church, continuing a centuries-old tradition of Anglican church music. Our philosophy is to strive for musical excellence, while being as inclusive as possible. As members of the choir, choristers learn the fundamentals of voice production, musicality and performance discipline and receive a comprehensive training in musical notation and music theory. But being a chorister is about more than just music – we aim to provide choristers with a supportive and stimulating environment in which they can build self-confidence and develop values of teamwork, responsibility and leadership that will last a lifetime.
Under the leadership of Dr David Hewett (Director of Music at St Mary’s), the choristers have flourished since their inception in 2017. Both their musical ability and their friendships have developed over the years and their regular involvement in services, along with the adult choir, brings joy to the whole congregation. There are 14 regular members, aged 8– 17. We also have 5 teenagers singing in the adult choir (two of which are also choristers), and a growing group of young organists. More experienced members are given the opportunity to take on leadership roles such as Senior Chorister or Head Chorister, and some of our more advanced musicians are being given training in accompanying and conducting the choirs. The many musical opportunities offered to young people in the
The Choristers rehearse from 6pm-7.30pm on Friday evenings and sing regularly at Sunday morning services, choral evensongs, and special services at Christmas and Easter, both as an independent choir and with the St Mary’s adult choir.
Membership of the choir is completely free of charge and new choristers are always welcome. Contact the Director of Music, Dr David Hewett (stmaryschoristers@gmail.com) if you are considering joining us and would like to know more.
To get a taste of what it’s like to be a chorister at St Mary’s, you can watch the short video below. Note that we have grown in membership since the video was made, but our principles remain the same! The soundtrack is a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus, made in 2018 by the St Mary’s Choristers and Choir, as part of our Passion Sunday service.
During lockdown 2020, the choristers continued to meet for regular Zoom rehearsals and music theory sessions, as well as some in-person socially-distanced rehearsals in the churchyard! They also made a virtual recording of Elgar’s “Ave Verum Corpus” in collaboration with the adult choir. You can listen to it below: