St Mary’s has a strong musical tradition. A four part choir sings each Sunday at both morning and evening services as well as on feast days and for other special events. The church is especially
notable for its fine, three manual, tracker organ.
— Join Us For Sunday Services
St Mary's Church Choir
St Mary’s has a committed choir, which practises every Friday evening and before main services. We sing a wide repertoire of sacred music from the Renaissance period to the present day and we welcome new members without audition. Members of the choir should be comfortable reading music to some degree because of the varied music sung weekly. If you are interested in joining us, please contact the church office. We hope to renew opportunities for our young people to sing with the choir in the future.
We are delighted to announce that Douglas Knight will be joining us as Director of Music in January 2025.
Douglas joins us from All Saints Friern Barnet, where he was Director of Music and Organist between 2019 and 2024. He was also Assistant Director of Music for the previous academic year (2023-2024) supporting the choral foundation at Christ Church Southgate as a maternity cover, and Assistant Organist at St. Stephen’s Rochester Row between 2015 and 2018. By day, he works as an academic librarian at University College London (UCL) and holds degrees in musicology from the University of Oxford and Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) where in 2021 he completed a PhD in music supported by a Crossland research scholarship.’
Taizé
Several times each year we have an evening service in the style of the Christian Community at Taizé in France. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character.
Our service are generally held on the third Sunday every month at 5.30pm, but please check for summer and Christmas arrangements.
We welcome instrumentalists to play at these services – strings and wind! Please get in touch with the church office about a week before, if you would like to contribute.
Young singers
We hope to renew the opportunities for our younger people to sing with the choir as our musical traditions develop
The church organ
The Organ was built after the fire in 1969, by Grant, Degens and Bradbeer Ltd. of Northampton, who have also built instruments for New College, Oxford and the University of York. It is a tracker-action organ with a light, clear sound, comprising three manuals and thirty-two speaking stops.
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Music at St Mary's
St Mary’s is home to regular concerts and music making. We have hosted the East London Music Festival and welcomed choirs, orchestras and organ players from the UK and abroad. Information about our next concerts will be published here and on our Facebook page.