Choir

MUSIC AT ST. MARY’S

Alan Childs – Director of Music
Email: a.j.childs@btinternet.com
Tel: 01582 883420

Music has always played a central part of the life at St Mary’s. At the weekly sung services the wonderful sounds of our choir, accompanied by the magnificent Walker organ, fill the largest parish church in Hertfordshire, inspiring and enhancing the worship.

The present choir consists of boy and girl choristers aged between seven and eighteen. A dedicated team of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, referred to as ‘the back rows’, supports the choristers. Together they sing music spanning some five hundred years, including, on occasions, music that has been especially composed or arranged for them.

St Mary’s contains the largest, and arguably the finest organ in the locality. The three manual instrument was built in 1871 by the firm of J W Walker & Sons and rebuilt in 2009 by The Village Organ Workshop.

A recent, generous bequest from the late Dorothy Wells has enabled St Mary’s to set up a programme for the training of young organists. The Dorothy Wells Organ Foundation is currently supporting two young organists as they further their skills in both solo organ playing and the art of service accompaniment.

We are always keen to welcome new members of all voice parts to our thriving choir and interested to hear from any young aspiring organists who feel they might benefit from our organ scholarship scheme.

We are pleased to bring you some music from St Mary’s for you to enjoy from the comfort of home! Click the link to hear our Director of Music Alan Childs playing Ave Maria (Enrico Bossi). 
https://www.youtube.com/watch

The youtube channel for the weekly videos is called Music at St Mary’s Hitchin, and the direct link is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0JJ6EPrOIUybuFe3mJvFzg/videos

Opportunities also exist for adults to sing at St Mary’s.

For further information please contact:
Alan Childs (Director of Music) 01582 883420 or a.j.childs@btinternet.com

TESTIMONIALS

Germund Annerbo (Erasmus Exchange Student)

Training choir:
The music had rhythmic complex time intervals and rhythmic patterns and the children were singing at a very advance level. They were taking part in a constructive way, and felt like they were playing at the same time.

Main choir:
The teenagers were being given a very strong musical ground to stand on and they were extremely keen to learn. I was amazed at their advanced level.