The St. John Singers

The St. John Singers is a small choir which sings regularly at the parish church once a month, at the evening service on the second Sunday. On occasion the choir also sings for other services, either by itself or jointly with the Parish Church Choir. In addition, from time to time, it travels out of Cirencester to provide choral music at churches which do not have choirs of their own.

In recent years we have sung Choral Evensong to commemorate the publication of The English Hymnal in the parish church at Down Ampney, birthplace of Ralph Vaughan-Williams, the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols in the beautiful Saxon church at North Cerney and, further afield, Choral Evensong at All Saints, Clifton, Bristol.

The choir was founded a number of years ago as The Tower Singers, by its first director Rosemary Hammond. Over the years its size, makeup and repertoire style has changed numerous times, varying from being a small ensemble of female voices to a large mixed choir of around twenty-five singers. Today, under its present name, it is still a mixed choir but is a small group and enthusiastic new members would be very welcome.

The choir has been directed by Anthony Hammond since 2003. Since that time, the aim has been to sing choral music which is slightly more unusual than the traditional core repertoire of the Parish Church Choir. Thus we have sung numerous twentieth century works and a good amount of Tudor music. The need to prepare usually for just one service in a month has meant that the choir has been able to devote proportionately more rehearsal time to each piece than is possible in the Parish Church Choir and has thus been able to get its teeth into some very rewarding repertoire.

At present, as a result of a number of members having left over the past twelve months due to relocation, changes in working patterns etc., we are operating on reduced numbers and repertoire is therefore kept reasonably simple. If you are interested in joining a small, friendly choir with a low time commitment but which offers regular opportunities to sing in glorious surroundings such as Cirencester Parish Church, SJS may be exactly what you are looking for. The commitment is as follows:

Second Sunday of each month - Evening Service (usually BCP Choral Evensong) at 6.00 pm.

Rehearsals on the Friday immediately preceding from 8.00 pm until c.9.15 pm

and on the day at 4.00 pm.

Occasional extra services.

If you would like further information, please contact the Director of Music.