MUSIC AND CHOIR

St. Giles has a longstanding tradition of excellent choral music. The choir sings for the evening service each week (usually Evensong), except for the fourth Sunday of the month when we sing for the morning service. We are one of only a handful of churches in the area that continues to offer a regular evening service and we treasure the rich heritage of Choral Evensong in particular.

As well as our Organist and Organ Scholar, we also have a tradition of welcoming excellent instrumentalists to join us for major festivals, with recent orchestral accompaniments includiung Parry, Vaughan-Williams, Handel, Rutter, Chilcott and Mathias.

Joining the Choir

We are a large choir in a small church, but nonetheless are always very happy to welcome new members. We are a happy mix of singers, with ages ranging from 8 to over 80 and experienced professional musicians alongside those at the beginning of their learning journey. Do not worry if this sounds a bit daunting; being alongside more experienced singers will help you to learn quickly; we have an unusual and rather special relaxed approach to working very hard! Those who are interested in swelling the ranks are very welcome to come and try singing at a couple of rehearsals or even just watch what happens for an evening or two. We rehearse on Friday evenings.

We are hugely fortunate to have some very committed and experienced choristers, some of whom have been singing every week in the choir for many decades. We also recognise that poeple have busy lives with work and family committments so our philosophy is a simple one: we will always be delighted when you can be with us, but there is no need to feel guilty when you cannot!

Choristers under 18 are paid a small termly honorarium and those who would like to be are supported through the RSCM "Voice for Life" programme. Singing in a church choir provides an excellent all-round training in music as well as being great fun.

As well as singing, we are not averse to the occasional choir party or BBQ and there is often a football somewhere to be seen...

Choral and Organ Scholarships

We offer a small number of paid Choral Scholarships for experienced altos, tenors and basses under the age of 18 who are able to make a full committment to the choir. We also have an organ scholar each year who accompanies the choir for our evening services. Usually scholars will be looking to apply for further choral or organ scholarships at university or a cathedral, but this is certainly not a requirement.

Alfie Beston - Organ Scholar 2024

I am delighted to announce that Alfie Beston has accepted our invitation to be our Organ Scholar here at St. Giles. Some of you will have already heard Alfie play at various services and those of us present have been very impressed with Alfie’s playing ability and musical talent.

When Alfie is not playing the organ he is also a member of our Church choir and we are very grateful for his ongoing commitment to the musical life of St. Giles Church. The Anglican choral tradition is very important both to me and to many people at St. Giles and I am pleased that through our support of Alfie we will be making an important contribution to the long term future of church music.

Matthew

ABOUT ST. GILES CHURCH

Ralph Barlow
Director of Music

Ralph was brought up near here, in Orpington and developed much of his love for music under the inspirational Stephen Davies at St Olave’s.

While at University in Bristol reading mathematics he directed a number of vocal and instrumental groups and sang occasionally as a Lay Clerk at the Cathedral there.

With a career in teaching and educational leadership taking him and the family on to Gloucester, Liverpool and Sherborne, Ralph has continued to sing and direct in cathedrals, schools and local amateur groups.

Following a family move back to Orpington in 2018, he has found St Giles choir a joyous place to be!

ralph@stgilesfarnborough.org.uk

Clive Brearley - Organist

Clive’s interest in music began while at Taunton School. There he started to learn the organ and joined the school choir. He thought his interest in church music might die down when he left school and started on a hotel management course - the hours in the Hotel Industry don’t mix well with church music – but things did not work out that way.

Within weeks of leaving school he
became assistant organist at a local church and started organ lessons in London with David Sanger, who was unknown at the time but became a World class organ recitalist - and a great friend.

He soon became a church organist and choirmaster; career just had to fit around it. Holidays were often spent on musical
pursuits such as madrigal singing or going to courses on musical
interpretation and conducting where he made many friends for life.

clive.brearley@gmail.com