What we do...
The Alleyn Singers is an adult choir which visits cathedrals and other major churches three to four times a year to lead services when the regular choir is not singing. Its members are all experienced singers. The choir has recently sung at Norwich, Portsmouth, Truro, Blackburn, Bristol, Gloucester and Southwark Cathedrals, as well as Magdalen College Oxford, St Albans Abbey, Chichester Cathedral, and Chelmsford Cathedral.
The repertoire is essentially geared to Anglican Choral Evensong and Eucharist, and ranges from Hildegard von Bingen and Josquin des Pres to Messiaen, Kenneth Leighton and Herbert Howells, with the usual favourite classics from the Anglican canon in between. Most visits are for a weekend giving time to acclimatise to the cathedral customs and acoustics, also affording more opportunities for socialising and enjoying the towns and cities we visit. In addition, the choir undertakes a summer residential visits for a whole week roughly every two years, the most recent being Truro Cathedral in August 2019, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford in 2022 and Exeter Cathedral in 2024. The choir is open to anyone to join. Our membership comprises a hundred or so singers who are notified by email when a visit is arranged to a UK cathedral or major church, and invited to participate. There is no obligation to participate at every event but we do expect singers to fulfil the commitment they make. The choir size averages 30 for each event and the music is tailored to the forces available. We sing SATB mostly in the usual cathedral antiphonal arrangement. Singers wear an academic gown and hood, if applicable, over a white shirt and dark suit for men, a white top and black bottoms for women. There is no membership fee and no charge for hire of music, however, we do suggest a £20 per day donation to help defray the expenses of our professional director, organist and music score purchase. Our professional music staff freely give of their time to us and only receive expenses, for which we are indeed grateful. Although we sing at church services we expect no religious affiliation from singers. We only require that you are sensitive to the liturgy and aim to enhance the worship in every way possible. Online links to music scores are distributed beforehand so that singers can familiarise themselves with the dots, along with links to online recordings. It is an expectation that you arrive at each venue with the music 'under your belt'! We then rehearse on the day in the song school or rehearsal room, then in the choir stalls just before each service. Rehearsals are hard work and pleasurable but, above all, always efficiently directed. We are a friendly group without being overwhelming and enjoy socialising with each other after rehearsals and Evensongs, and moreover performing superb music together to an excellent standard. We are mindful that we are compared at each service with choirs of the highest standard in the country. We deputise for cathedral and abbey choirs and aim to ensure that our performances come as close to theirs as we can make them. We don't have a formal audition procedure (most of our members sing in auditioned choirs) but our Director of Music may well undertake a short voice test, particularly for new members. If you would like to find out more please use the form on the ‘Contact’ page of this website. You will be welcome to come along to one of our rehearsals. Contact us and we will give you details. 
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Director
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