The Choir
St Michael’s Mount Dinham has a dedicated and accomplished SATB robed Choir. Sunday services and Vespers are sung during the week. A calendar of Feast Days and special services is sung throughout the year. The Choir welcomes new singers and former members to all its services and events. New members are warmly welcomed. A good ear with sight-reading skills are highly desirable. This month’s music list is linked further down this page.
The music repertoire is cathedral-style, ranging from plainchant, renaissance polyphony, baroque and romantic styles, through to 20th century and contemporary settings. Plainsong propers (psalms), from the English Gradual, feature in the Anglo-Catholic music and liturgy of St Michael’s and are sung for all services.
The Choir rehearses on Tuesdays at 19:00-20.30 and on Sundays at 10:00-10:45 am before Mass at 11:00. Please contact Acting Director of Music and Organist Matt Clark via the contacts page here if you are interested to sing services with the Choir. For a map and directions to St Michael’s church, click here to find us.
Choral and organ scholarships may be awarded for exceptional musicians, in association with the Exeter University Chapel Choir. St Michael’s welcomes guest conductors and choir trainers for special services and events. Find more information about the music team here.
The Choir is hired for weddings, baptisms, funerals and other cultural and heritage events through the city of Exeter and beyond. Concerts and recitals are traditionally part of the annual pattern of music making.
Camaraderie and companionship are an enjoyable feature of the Choir which enjoys regular social activities. Traditionally, the Choir takes part in annual events such as the exchange visit to the National trust at Tyntesfield in North Somerset and the national Heritage Open Days, celebrating this year’s national theme in 2024 of connection, networks and journeys with residents of Mount Dinham.
Members of the choir have sung at the Opening Service of the Devon County Show and also for the BBC Radio Devon Carol Service in Exeter Cathedral. Some current and former members are affiliated with In Ecclesia and other vocal ensembles, which sing Choral Evensong at Cathedrals and Abbeys across the British Isles.
During the summer months, the Choir has toured both at home and abroad. Further afield, tours have included Yorkshire, Wales, Norfolk, Dorset and Fulda in Germany. The choir hosted an Anglo-Belgian choral collaboration in 2014. More locally, the Choir sings services in churches in Devon and neighbouring counties and is nurturing relationships with other churches dedicated to St Michael; at Shute near Axminster, in Heavitree, Exeter and at St. Michael’s Mount, Cornwall.