St Barts Choir
The choir is formed from members of the parish, and meets on Thursday, from 7.30-9.00. At the moment, the choir is very small, with several members away on diplomatic postings. To make up for missing voice parts, we rely on supplementary singers among family and friends, or singers from the congregation who cannot commit to regular practices but are able to sing occasionally. For special occasions, we hire vocal and instrumental soloists as needed. We are also fortunate to have some parishioners who are proficient instrumentalists, and their participation enriches the worship greatly.
In keeping with the traditional style of the church and the worship, the choir excels at Anglican Chant and the main body of repertoire comes from the time-tested hymnody and anthems of the Church of England. That said, there is a constant effort to incorporate newer music, both classical and folk styles, into the Sunday worship, so as to provide an increasingly varied and 'user-friendly' congregational style of singing.
In addition to leading the singing on Sundays, the choir presents an Advent Procession with Carols, a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and special music for Advent. Christmas, Holy Week and Easter, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, Harvest Thanksgiving and Remembrance Sunday.
When numbers warrant it, we have a junior choir program, and have, in recent years, put on musicals on Biblical themes, as well as participating in the worship, and visiting a nearby seniors' residence.