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Job Description - Music Director
 
South West London

Organisation: The Canbury Singers

Background

Canbury Singers (registered charity 1182027) is a community-based choir in Kingston-Upon-Thames. Formed in 2007, as part of the Canbury Arts Trust, by a small group of locals who just wanted to sing, the choir has grown into a 40 strong group of enthusiastic and dedicated singers with a good reputation. Canbury Singers is an affiliated member of Making Music.

We are a friendly, fun-loving choir without an audition process comprising a range of members from sight readers to those re-starting singing after some years. We meet on a Monday night (8:15pm – 9:45pm) and look to perform at least 2 concerts a year together with a few charity and Christmas events. Members have an eclectic musical interest ranging from choral, religious and secular to jazz and stage musical genres, European folk songs and sea shanties along the way. The choir is managed by an active committee who work closely with the Music Director on repertoire and performance planning.

As a community-based choir, we are hoping to find a Music Director that is also based in the SW London / Surrey area, although this is not a pre-requisite for the right candidate.

Responsibilities of the Music Director

• To work with the committee to develop music plans for the year and to help explore the possibilities of performing with other ensembles

• To select the music for all events in consultation with the committee, identifying the appropriate arrangements and scores to be used

• To identify or prepare choral learning tracks to enable additional learning by choir members outside of weekly rehearsals

• To plan, direct and conduct rehearsals

• Communicate the rehearsal plan ahead of time so that members can practice the relevant music if they wanted to

• Identify suitable recordings of the repertoire (if available) and provide this as a playlist to members

• To conduct up to three concerts to an agreed schedule

• To either conduct or find a suitable deputy for any extra performances in agreement with the committee

• To coach good vocal technique and choral practice as a fundamental part of rehearsals

• To book soloists and instrumentalists for concerts and to work with the budget available

• To work fluently with the accompanist and to enact a consistent approach to rehearsals if working in sectionals

• To ensure conducting cover for any absences from rehearsals

• To provide insight on appropriate vocal rehearsal aids where these have not already been acquired by the choir

• To attend committee meetings in an advisory capacity

• To attend and present a performance review of the year at the AGM
   

Person specification

The successful candidate will be an excellent musician who must:

• Have proven experience of directing and conducting choral works

• Have a broad knowledge and appreciation of the tradition of the choral repertoire, both sacred and secular

• Be a sensitive and inspiring leader and an excellent communicator

• Be able to work with a community choir to bring the best out of them with tactfulness

• Be a team player and be able to work with the accompanist and committee

• Possess the ability to demonstrate and teach good vocal technique

• Possess a reasonable level of keyboard competency so as to enable a smooth sectional or solo rehearsal if without the support of the accompanist

• Be well organised

• Be sociable and be able to bring a good sense of humour

Pay

Remuneration is £105 for each ninety-minute rehearsal at a rate of £70 per hour.
There is also a termly (3 times per year) preparation fee of £250

Application

To apply and for further details please contact our secretary at sec@canburysingers.org.uk. A cover letter accompanied by a full Curriculum Vitae should be sent by the closing date Sunday 14^th June 2026 @ 21:00.

The committee will shortlist applicants shortly after the application deadline. Full details of requirements for audition will be communicated to successful candidates. Auditions and interviews will take place in the evenings of Monday 29^th June and Monday 6^th July.

We are looking for the Music Director to start September 2026 and pick up rehearsals for a Mozart Requiem concert planned in January 2027.

Folk songs and madrigals will be the focus of our 17 May concert. 

The folk songs represent some of the most popular traditional material from the British Isles, and you may be familiar with titles such as Londonderry Air, The Parting Glass and There Was A Tree.

The arrangements we will sing were created at the beginning of the 20th century by composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, who sought to take songs that had been sung informal settings for generations and adapt them for the concert hall.

Madrigal singing, meanwhile, originated in Italy in the 14th century and became popular across Europe during the Renaissance. Madrigals are musical settings of poems, often with light-hearted themes such as courtly love and romance.

English composers include John Dowland and Thomas Morley, both of whom are represented in our programme. We also feature three settings by modern American composer Emma Lou Diemer, based on texts by Shakespeare.

In addition to our selection of folk and madrigals, we are being joined by three different groups: Singing For Fun, The Pielarks and Kingston Madrigal Society.

You can book tickets for the concert here.

• Carols at the Willoughby Arms – Thursday, 12th December from 7.30pm
• Carols at the Wych Elm – Wednesday, 18th December from 7.30pm
• Carols Around the Christmas Tree at All Saints Church – Sunday, 22nd December at 1:30pm
• St Luke’s Carol Service – Sunday, 22nd December at 5:00pm