Music at St Mary's Barnes

Choral and Organ scholarship applications now open

(see below)

Welcome

Welcome to Music at St Mary’s Barnes. We are proud to foster music through our Parish Choir,
Junior Choir and St Mary’s at 3 recital series, and through our offering to the wider community.
St Mary’s is proud to be the core home of the Barnes Music Festival (see below), the venue of
most Barnes Music Society’s concerts and the host of concerts by numerous other local groups
and organisations.

Our Director of Music & Organist – Ben Markovic

Ben is a prize-winning Masters student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying Ensemble
Piano with James Cheung and Joseph Middleton. He has held organ scholarship posts at
Queens’ College, Cambridge, Worcester Cathedral and St Stephen’s Walbrook, with St Martinin-
the-Fields and is now Director of Music and Organist at St Mary’s, Barnes. He is in demand
as an accompanist and recitalist, having worked with ensembles including the Academy of St
Martin-in-the-Fields, St Martin’s Voices, London Choral Sinfonia, Beati Consort, Islington Choral
Society, London Concert Choir and Canticum Chamber Choir. He works regularly with the
Rodolfus Foundation and National Children’s Choir of Great Britain, and teaches privately,
having taught piano at Tonbridge School in 2023/4. For more information, please see
benjaminmarkovic.com

Parish Choir

Under the direction of Ben Markovic, the Adult Choir seeks to enhance worship with beautiful music. We sing an anthem at the Parish Eucharist each week in termtime, and lead the congregation in hymn singing and the setting of the Mass.

We are an un-auditioned choir of enthusiastic singers. We welcome new singers, whatever your voice part. Ability to read music is desirable but can be nurtured and developed. A love of music and the ability to attend rehearsals and services are the only prerequisites. Please contact Ben at [email protected] if you would like more information, or for an informal chat.

As well as singing at weekly Sunday morning services, we also sing on special occasions such as Ascension Day, Ash Wednesday, All Souls Day, Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols and a variety of other services during the year.

We rehearse on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8.30pm and on Sunday mornings at 9.10am before the Parish Eucharist, learning a wide range of traditional anthems, contemporary anthems, and everything in between!

St Mary’s also seeks to encourage new talent and we offer 5 scholarships to young people: 4 choral awards (1x SATB) and an organ award. Please see more information below.

Junior Choir

The Junior Choir is our choir for children, our future musicians.

Since February 2024, the choir has once again been offering children from 7 upwards the opportunity to learn and develop vocal skills they can have for life. Rehearsing on a Sunday morning for 45 minutes from 11.15am to 12 noon, they are starting to train their voices, and learn repertoire for monthly church services. As the choir grows, more opportunities will arise.

Boys and girls work with our Director of Music, Ben Markovic, to learn to sing well: to use the body to produce well-tuned sound, to read music, to listen to each other, to work in a way challenging for their own age, and to sing together and apart. The choir is open to all comers: please contact [email protected]

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Music Scholarships

St Mary’s Church Barnes invites applications for four choral scholarships (SATB) and an organ scholarship. Our choir performs a diverse programme of music under the leadership of our Director of Music.

The choral scholars form a core of the Parish choir. Scholars are usually in or about to enter the Sixth Form, have a passion for singing, an interest in church music and a desire to broaden their knowledge and experience of the repertoire. The scholarship provides experience for those who want to sing beyond school, especially for those preparing for Oxbridge choral scholarships. Most years some of our scholars have taken up Oxbridge awards. Crucial sight-reading and choral skills issues are regularly and actively addressed and assessed.

Duties

The Choral Scholars are required for the Wednesday rehearsal (currently from 7:30pm – 9pm) and for a rehearsal at 9:15am ready for the 10am service on Sundays. In addition the Choir sings Choral Evensong around once a term and some special services and concerts during the year. It is hoped that the Choral Scholars will seek out creative ways in which to enhance the musical life of St. Mary’s, whether through sacred or secular means. See full details. Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ben at [email protected]

Organ Scholarship

The scholar is expected to attend all rehearsals and services where the choir are singing during term time. Additional commitments in the run up to Christmas and Easter are expected and will be confirmed in writing in advance. A flexible arrangement in the Summer term can be agreed to lessen the commitment during exam season. It is expected that the scholar will devote some time away from this schedule to prepare music and for private practice.
The choir sings from September through to mid-July, and breaks for two weeks after Christmas and Easter.

Fees and perks
The scholarship attracts remuneration paid in termly installments. Free coaching in organ playing, choral accompaniment, and conducting are also offered as part of the post. Additional subsidised tuition in organ and piano is also offered. The organ scholar receives an additional fee when playing or directing in the absence of the Director of Music and Organist. If appropriate, the scholar may be invited to play at weddings and funerals at the standard church rate.
The organ scholar is entitled to practice the organ and piano when the church is open (09:00 to 17:00 or dusk daily) when the building is not otherwise in use. If the scholar is under 18 years of age, private practice must be in line with church safeguarding policies (more information on request).

See full details Applications by 3pm 20th June. Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ben at [email protected]

St Mary's @ 3

‘St Mary’s at 3’ is a new informal concert series hosted at St Mary’s, with concerts (mostly) on the 3rd Sunday at 3pm, running from September to June. Concerts are around 45 minutes long, are completely free to attend (with retiring collection), and are preceded by (free) refreshments from 2:30pm. The series offers performance opportunities to some of London’s brightest young professional musicians in an accessible and warm environment. Concerts feature a wide range of instruments and music, often featuring obscure works and pieces by underrepresented composers.

Barnes Music Festival

The Barnes Music Festival is the annual celebration of music making which includes choral, instrumental, orchestral, opera, jazz, photography and film events. It features established and emerging stars plus local groups and schools to celebrate music making of the highest standard. The Youth Programme works with local schools and includes the Barnes Young Musician of the Year. The festival is based at St Mary’s Barnes with around 35 events at different venues across Barnes during a two-week period in March each year. The Festival Committee comprises people from music, church and community groups led by Chairman Andrew Summers and Artistic Director, James Day.

For more information on this year’s festival, go to www.barnesmusicfestival.com