Accompanist

 The choir is one of the foremost amateur choirs in Southeast Kent, described by the Church Times as the leading large vocal ensemble in Maidstone. We are looking for a skilled, and motivated accompanist, ideally with experience in working with large mixed choirs, who will help us pursue our vision – which is to share the pleasure of music-making by providing members with the opportunity to learn and perform choral music to a high standard.

The choir, which performs in the classical tradition, was formed in 1990 and currently has about 60 singers. Membership of the choir is not dependent on an audition although a smaller chamber choir within the larger choir is auditioned. 

We rehearse in a hard-working and happy atmosphere for two hours on Monday evenings during school term time at Sutton Valence School. Our accompanist would be expected to play at all weekly rehearsals (usually about 30 per year) and at the rehearsal on the day of each concert as well as in the concert itself, depending on the work being performed.

We perform in venues local to Sutton Valence and occasionally further afield, such as Rochester and Canterbury Cathedrals. Our repertoire is ambitious and challenging. We perform a minimum of two major concerts per year usually in November and March, when we engage the Beresford Sinfonia and professional soloists.  Two further concerts, in July and December, generally involve a collection of shorter pieces accompanied by piano or organ. We also undertake workshops, social events and charitable functions and occasionally join with other choirs to perform major choral works.

Each year we choose a local charity and raise money for it throughout the year. This year we are supporting the Kent and Medway Young Musicians Trust.

It is our practice to pay our accompanist on a self-employed basis. The current remuneration structure is £78 per rehearsal. We also pay a fee for each concert, the amount of which depends on the extent of the accompanist’s role in the particular concert (broadly speaking, we pay at the upper end of our fee range for orchestra members and more if the accompanist is effectively acting as a soloist). To give you an idea of how this works in practice, in the last financial year we paid our current accompanist a total of over £3,000. Remuneration rates are reviewed annually by our Committee in line with RPI and Government statistics on average earnings.

If you would like to explore this opportunity further, we should be glad to hear from you.  Please email svchoralsoc@gmail.com Our Chair would be glad to provide further information and answer any questions you may have.

Website: https://www.suttonvalencechoral.com/

Registered Charity: 1119160