The robed, mixed, RSCM-affiliated choir sings at all Sunday morning services either at St Nicolas or at the monthly Choral Matins Service at St Anne’s Church, Dropmore. All Services include a sung Anthem.
Choir Practice takes place each Friday evening and the Sunday morning Service is preceded by a short run-through of music for that day.
St Nicolas is a popular venue for couples planning on getting married and the choir sings at several wedding services in the church each year.
Music in a variety of styles and from around the world is sung either with the support of the pipe organ, Yamaha grand-piano, or unaccompanied, but the English choral tradition remains central to music-making at St Nicolas. There are over 120 anthems in the choir’s constantly expanding repertoire. Notable additions in recent years include Allegri’s Miserere and Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer. All singers regularly have the opportunity to sing solos of all kinds if they wish, and some of the younger singers go on to gain choral scholarships and to sing elsewhere. Eve is now starring as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End.
The choir is often augmented at Festivals and celebratory services by voluntary visiting singers. In recent years, the Choir has sung at Southwark, Guildford, Rochester, St Albans, Exeter and Chester Cathedrals and Christ Church, Oxford and in 2023, we sang the weekend services at Gloucester Cathedral.
In 2024, the choir visited two Cathedrals: Salisbury for one mid-week Evensong, and then in August, we sang the weekend services in Worcester, including Sunday morning Eucharist, and two Evesongs. Here is a short excerpt from the anthem for Saturday evening, ‘How Lovely is Thy Dwelling-Place’, from Brahms’ German Requiem.
We are always pleased to welcome new members.
Please direct all enquiries to the Director of Music, Neil Matthews neilmatthews63@gmail.com
