"There are several choirs of high quality in Swindon and the Choir of St Mark's Church, under the direction of Dan Chambers, is certainly one of them" Read the full review in Swindon Advertiser 24/10/07   Welcome to St Mark's Church Choir    The Calendar Page has information on regular service and choir practice times, or visit the News Page for information on upcoming events: including a review of our performance on October 21st of a performance of Edward Elgar's first oratorio: "The Light of Life". The current music list is available online, along with details on how to join the choir.

History

St. Mark's Church, the Anglo-Catholic Parish Church in the historic Great Western Railway town of Swindon New Town, has a long Cathedral-style musical history, singing early and well-known music for the liturgy within the English choral tradition. At the 10 o'clock Sunday morning service the choir sings a choral mass setting and an anthem. The masses currently in the choir's repertoire number more than 30, and range from Byrd and Palestrina, through Mozart, to Leighton and Langlais. They also have an impressive repertoire of liturgical anthems and motets.

Past & Future Events In February 2004, St. Mark's hosted a Choral Festival, when choirs from the surrounding area joined St. Mark's Choir in a day of rehearsing for a very successful evensong, conducted by Adrian Lucas, Organist of Worcester Cathedral. These Choral Days are a regular fixture in the musical life of the church, and are a fun social event bringing together choirs and singers in the local area. In June 2007 another event was held with Malcolm Archer, Organist of St Paul's Cathedral. Over 30 singers from the local area came to St Mark's to sing Stainer in B flat and Naylor's 'Vox dicentis'. Future events include a performance of Elgar's oratorio Light of Life in October to celebrate the year of his 150th birthday, and a in 2008 joint performance of Tallis's 40-part motet Spem in alium. More information can be found on the Diary Page. The Choir have recently recorded a CD with profits from the sale being donated to the Mapanza Mattress Project, and there are plans to make another next year.

About the Choir The choir is drawn from the Parish and from the immediate local area and include members who have regularly worked and recorded with BBC Symphony Chorus, with Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and with the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church Oxford. They rehearse weekly and sing at the Parish Mass on Sunday mornings, in addition to monthly evensongs and on other important days in the church's year. If you're interested in joining the choir, please contact the choirmaster, Dan Chambers, on info@stmarkschoir.co.uk or phone 07824 849468 Marktime runs weekly on Friday evenings, and is an opportunity for the younger members of the congregation to make music in the church. More information can be found here, or please visit our Links page.

Last update Tue Oct 30 10:35:06 GMT 2007