Musical Director

London & South East

Organisation: Newport Pagnell Singers

MUSICAL DIRECTOR REQUIRED FOR NEWPORT PAGNELL SINGERS OCTOBER 2020

Newport Pagnell Singers an SATB choir of approximately 50 voices is seeking to appoint an experienced and energetic Musical Director to lead our choir from October 2020. The position arises with the retirement of our present MD.

We rehearse on term-time Monday evenings 7.30-9.30pm at the United Reformed Church, High Street, Newport Pagnell, less than 10 minutes from M1 J14. Established since 1962 we are a friendly, mixed ability community choir, performing music in varying styles, spanning from Baroque to Rock. We usually give three concerts a year and join with other choirs in an October fundraising concert for our local hospice. We perform in and around Newport Pagnell, accompanied by our professional rehearsal pianist or by a small orchestral ensemble as appropriate.

The choir is managed by an enthusiastic committee working closely with the Musical Director, as an ex-officio member, in the planning of rehearsals, concerts and workshops. We are self-financing and aim to give a proportion of our concert income each year to a chosen charity.

We are looking for an excellent choral leader and musician to build on the choir's skills within the varied repertoire of music for which we have become well-known, and to offer us new challenges in our next phase of development.

Ideally the successful applicant will have:

The ability to communicate effectively with singers and audiences to convey the joy of music making, sense of community and fun.

A wide knowledge of choral repertoire to engage both choir and audiences

Experience in teaching and conducting singers with a wide range of abilities

The ability to teach vocal skills and techniques for improving singing

The ability to play keyboard/piano sufficiently well to take an occasional rehearsal (Zoom or physical)

This is a paid position based on a fee per rehearsal and per concert. The fee is negotiable within a range appropriate to the applicant's experience and reflecting our status as a charity registered community choir.

To apply email your CV plus a covering letter stating why you would like to work with us to our Chair Pat Kearsley - palaco@btinternet.com or call 07904 299484 for more information. The deadline for applications is 5pm Friday 11th September 2020. Selected applicants will be interviewed by a small panel, possibly on Zoom or if government guidelines allow, in person later in September and we hope to invite short-listed candidates to take a short rehearsal of the choir as soon as possible after that, depending on the situation at the time.

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