All Saints Church Fulham are seeking Choral Scholars for the 2013/14 year.

Services
(This list is not intended to be exclusive – the choral scholars may be asked to sing at occasional other services)

Sundays:
9.30am Choral Eucharist.
6.00pm Evensong.

Several festivals over the course of the year not necessarily on Sundays including Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension Day, All Souls’ Day. There are also occasional extra services during the year, which are paid in addition to the scholar’s salary.

Choir Practices:
Wednesday 8.00 – 9.30pm
Sunday 8.45 – 9.20am
5.00 – 5.50pm

Weddings and funerals
Choral scholars get first refusal on all paid services and concerts at the church – though owing to the very short rehearsal times before these events, this is subject to sightreading abilities. Performance fees are doubled for videoed services.

Choral scholars
We are looking for strong singers, who have substantial experience in choral singing and good sightreading abilities to lead a section in the choir. The choir is of a high standard and sings an eclectic range of music, from Victoria and Tallis to (recently) Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach and James MacMillan’s Miserere. The position would suit, but is not restricted to, a student studying singing at music college. Recent choral scholars have gone on to sing professionally in cathedral and London church choirs, and have partaken in professional choir schemes, such as the Sixteen’s Genesis training programme. In addition to singing as a member of the choir, there are opportunities to sing solo services a number of times per year, and the position as a whole provides an excellent balance in improving choral skills at the same time as offering many opportunities for solo work.

Junior choral scholars
We are looking for strong singers, who have experience in choral singing and good sightreading abilities to lead their section in the choir at the same time as developing their abilities as a choral and solo singer. In addition to singing as a member of the choir, there may be opportunities to sing solo services during the year, and the position as a whole provides an excellent balance in improving choral skills at the same time as potentially offering opportunities for solo work.

About All Saints Church Choir
All Saints church choir is a semi-professional choir of chamber-choir proportions (currently 6,4,5,5) that performs an exciting and eclectic range of music to a very high standard. Many members of the choir are young professionals who have enjoyed singing in college and university choirs and who wish to keep singing to a similar standard while working or studying in London. There are currently three paid choral scholars (alto, soprano and bass) who sing with the choir and occasionally on their own for services.

Music ranges from the renaissance to the present day and includes a range of exciting lesser-known works as well as the standard cathedral repertoire. At the 9.30am Eucharist the choir sings two motets, and a full choral Mass setting on feast days (roughly once a month) – it frequently sings a sung Agnus Dei setting on other occasions.

In addition to singing as a whole, the choir occasionally sings services for men’s and women’s voices, offering an opportunity to explore a wider range of music. There are also occasional choral scholar services.

At Christmas and Easter, and occasionally for other festivals, the choir and organ is augmented with professional instrumentalists. The director of music is keen to use the choral scholar’s skills in many ways, and there will be opportunities to enhance or develop skills in choral and instrumental arrangement or composition as part of the position, should you wish.

The music staff at All Saints comprises the Director of Music, the Assistant Organist, who plays for one service per week, and the Organ Scholar. The Organist Emeritus is Martin Neary, former director of music at Westminster Abbey.

In addition to the Parish Church Choir, there is a Gospel Choir and a Children’s Choir, the Junior All Saints Singers, both of which sing for the 11.30am family service once a month.

The choir makes at least one tour to a cathedral once a year and is planning a tour abroad to Sicily this summer. Recent tours have included Oxford; Ripon, Ely and Exeter Cathedrals; and Cologne. It was recently asked to sing for the former Archbishop of Canterbury for the ceremony of conferment of Lambeth Degrees at Lambeth Palace.

The congregation at All Saints greatly values its music, is extremely welcoming, and is vocally appreciative about the music in the church, and the involvement of the choir and music staff with the congregation. The clergy work closely with the music department and are extremely supportive. The choir is extremely friendly and sociable and visits the pub after rehearsals and most services. In addition, there are several social events arranged during the year, from choir parties to the yearly tradition of seeing off the Boat Race from the top of the church tower before running down to the vicarage to see the end, accompanied by champagne!

Audition
Candidates will be asked to sing a prepared piece of their own choice, and sightread two pieces of music, usually one from the renaissance period, and one more modern work.

If there are any other questions, the director of music is always very happy to talk about the post informally to prospective scholars.