Parish choir

« Back to Children
« Back to Music

Proud to have been affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music since 1947

We have a well-run, enthusiastic SATB choir under the expert direction of Jonathan Holmes, MA (Oxon), B.Mus, FRCO, ARCM and are privileged to be continuing a long-standing choral tradition in the church.

We offer our choristers a free musical education and encourage them through the Royal School of Church Music's "Voice for Life" training scheme. As you will see from the table below, many of our choristers go on to pass prestigious externally-run RSCM exams at both national and Area level. Adult singers are paid to sing at weddings and memorial services, while all choristers in full-time education receive pay for practices and services plus weddings and memorial services at which they sing.

The Choir is a mixed ensemble of adults and children which sings polyphonic works dating from the Renaissance, plus music from the Anglican Cathedral repertoire and pieces by modern composers of quality, in the context of a broadly traditional style of liturgy.

The termly choir diary and music list gives some idea of the choir's commitments. There is also a "Choir Club" for the Choir Juniors, which meets weekly in term-time (currently on Fridays between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.). This offers a mixture of musical training plus social contact and recreation.

You will see from the Music List that we have a fair amount of music to sing and our repertoire is such that we have enjoyed visiting cathedrals to deputise when the resident choir is on holiday.

Recruitment

As with all choirs, we are always looking for recruits and the Director of Music would be pleased to meet potential choristers of all voices - both complete novices and experienced singers keen to join the present forces in making a practical contribution to the musical life of the parish. We accept youngsters from about the age of seven and adults of any age. Please see our recruitment leaflet.

Further details are available from the Director of Music (directorofmusic at stmarysewell.com) , Choir Administrator (music at stmarysewell.com) or the Parish Office - Telephone: 020-8393-2643 (parishoffice at stmarysewell.com).

We are fortunate to have tremendous support from the PCC, and successive Vicars of Ewell. Indeed, Father Richard Hanford was a former Cathedral Precentor who not only sang the liturgy but was also a competent organist known for playing and officiating at the same service!

Past and present choristers having gained Area or National Awards