Regular Singer Vacancies - Alto, Tenor(x2), & Bass - Freelance - St Paul's Knightsbridge

About the job

St Paul’s Knightsbridge is an Anglican parish church of the high church tradition in Belgravia, London. Its liturgical style is formal and dignified, and along with thoughtful preaching, a sensitive liturgical programme of music has always been an important part of its witness. The church is committed to maintaining the very highest standards in its offering of worship to God. The repertoire for regular services and special events is eclectic and the congregation is used to music in a wide variety of styles from all centuries down to the present day. 

The church is particularly well-known for its creative use of music in special services - especially memorial services – and for welcoming outside performers (whether the London Chamber Orchestra, State Trumpeters, or singers such as Chris de Burgh, Roger Taylor, Lulu or Kiki Dee) and sensitively embracing music of all styles (alongside more traditional church repertoire) in celebrating the lives of a variety of lesser- or well-known personalities.

Under the direction of Joseph Fort, a regular octet (SSAATTBB - augmented on certain occasions) sings at the Solemn Eucharist on Sunday mornings, the liturgies of Holy Week, Easter, and Christmas, on occasional mid-week Feast Days and for special services such as memorial services, weddings, and funerals. We have full choir on most Sundays of the year, with the exception of Sundays in the month of August, the First Sunday of Christmas, and the Second Sunday of Easter, when music is provided by Solo Cantor and Organist. 

St Paul’s is seeking to appoint professional, skilled and highly competent singers to join the ranks of the choir of professional freelance singers, many of whom sing with opera companies, leading choirs and ensembles including ENO, the ROH, Glyndebourne, and the BBC Singers. We seek to strike a balance between a regular commitment by singers that allows stability and integrity of sound to be established, and a sensible flexibility that recognises that singers of the calibre we are seeking will inevitably have other commitments. As such there is presently no formal minimum attendance commitment, but regular singers may be asked to relinquish their position if their absence is deemed prolonged or too frequent, to the extent that it has a deleterious impact on the choir. 

Regular singers are given first refusal for singing a service, and are required to book their own deputies (in consultation with the Director of Music where necessary) should they be unable to sing themselves. Singers are engaged on a freelance basis and the arrangement between church and singer is an informal one, not subject to a written contract. Singers are responsible for declaring and paying their own tax and national insurance. 

 CURRENT FEES:

 Regular Services

Sunday Solemn Eucharist:                   £78

Solo Cantor Sunday:                            £93

Midnight Mass/Christmas morning:   £100 each       

Additional parish liturgies*:                £93

 * Additional parish liturgies include Advent Carol Service, Parish Carol Service, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, Ascension Day, All Souls and other occasional liturgies such as weekday feasts, e.g. when Patronal Festival/Epiphany/Candlemas are not observed on Sunday.

 Special Services

The fee for special services (weddings/funerals/memorials) is £105.

 Video recording & live streaming

All regular services are live-streamed and available on a time-limited basis for the benefit of parishioners who are unable to attend church in person. The recordings are not available for download. No additional singer fees are payable on the basis that the live streams are not for commercial use.

Special service fees attract a 50% uplift where the service is recorded by an external videographer, and/or where the family opt to keep a recording of an in-house video live-stream for more than 48 hours.

TIMETABLE

The posts are available from 10 April 2022 (or later, by negotiation).

Application deadline: 5pm on 2 March 2022.

Auditions will be held on the afternoon of 13 March 2022. 

APPLICATION PROCESS

 Applications by CV and cover note with details of two referees may be emailed to Katja Behrens -  katja@spkb.org  - by 5pm on 2 March 2022

Pre-application enquiries may be directed to Joseph Fort – joseph@spkb.org