Musical Director: application details 2010
About us
Introduction
Collegium Musicum of London, a 25-strong chamber choir based in Clerkenwell, is seeking a suitably experienced, creative, ambitious, communicative, and inspirational Musical Director to take up post in June 2010, on the departure of the current Musical Director, Peter Owens. CML runs a programme of four concerts a year, preceded by six Wednesday-evening rehearsals; the choir also sings for three one-rehearsal events per year.
The choir
We are a mixed-voice choir, and members come from a variety of backgrounds, although all must audition before joining, and re-auditions are held from time to time. There is an annual subscription, and members also pay a ‘concert fee’ to include the cost of music-hire. Not all members sing in every concert.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals are held on Wednesday evenings from 19:00 to 22:00 at The Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer ('OMHR"), Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE. A further rehearsal for each concert takes place on the afternoon of the performance, at the concert venue.
Repertoire
Our concerts include a wide range of repertoire (in terms of country, language and century), and we enjoy the challenge of presenting seldom-heard works. Recent concerts have included:
A programme of music from South America (including 16th-century works by Spanish, Portuguese, and Mexican composers, as well as Ginastera’s Lamentations of Jeremiah)
A programme of music on the theme of flowers (including works by Finzi, Lauridsen, Billings, Wilbye, Britten, and Whitacre).
Handel’s Dixit Dominus and anthems by Purcell (with Belsize Baroque).
We also specialise in singing Russian sacred music, and perform a Russian-themed concert (either a major piece, such as Rachmaninov’s All-night Vigil, or a programme of shorter pieces by various Russian composers) at least once every two years.
Most concerts are a cappella, but occasionally we will hire an instrumental ensemble.
More details of past concerts can be found here.
Management
Our activities are managed by a committee, on which the Musical Director also sits.
Venues
We rehearse at OMHR, and up until last year, we gave most of our performances there. Over the last year, there has been a move to give the choir more ‘presence’ on the London music scene, and to this end, we have given a number of concerts at St James’s, Piccadilly; budget permitting, it is hoped that this trend will continue. Currently, the choir pays ‘in kind’ for use of OMHR – singing three services a year there (an Epiphany carol service, The Patronal Festival on 15 July, and a Requiem for All Souls’ Day on 2 November).
About you
MD’s duties
You will be responsible for choosing the repertoire (in consultation with the Committee), planning concerts, taking rehearsals (see below for details), conducting concerts (and services), holding auditions, and liaising with instrumental ensembles/soloists over any musical matters.
Repertoire and direction
You should be willing to find and research appropriate and challenging repertoire (with its accompanying performance practice), as well as being imaginative in developing and creating performance opportunities. You should be inspirational (in terms of repertoire and people-management) and aspirational (in terms of improving the choir’s musical standards, and taking it forward to a new level of performance); you should be committed and enthusiastic.
Rehearsals
Your rehearsal technique and skills should include not only the main musical aspects of conducting, teaching and interpreting a concert programme (although choir members are also expected to do ‘homework’ on note-learning), but it should also include attention to blend, tonal quality of all members, singing skills, and presentation skills; it would also be an advantage for you to have a facility with other languages. You will also need to have good inter-personal skills, both with the choir as a whole, and with individuals (so as to help each singer give her/his best contribution to the choral sound, as well as to build and maintain a good singing team).
Concerts
You should be able to communicate clearly and confidently with the choir during performances, and you should also have confidence in working with soloists and instrumental ensembles.
Honorarium
You will be paid an honorarium (which is reviewable every two years) of £2,000 per annum, by quarterly instalments, with effect from 1 September 2010.
Future concerts
The choir plans its programme well in advance, and all concert dates in 2010 have been set. The current MD leaves after the Holy Redeemer Patronal Festival service on 15 July, allowing some opportunity for hand-over. The first concert under your direction will be on Saturday 9 October 2010 in Holy Redeemer (rehearsals on 1/9, 8/9, 15/9, 22/9, 29/9 and 6/10); the work performed will be Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (no soloists booked yet). No repertoire has been planned for future concerts and services, but the following dates have been set:
All Souls’ Requiem (for Holy Redeemer) on 2 November 2010; evening rehearsal on 27/10
Concert (venue to be confirmed) on 4 December 2010; evening rehearsals on 20/10, 3/11, 10/11, 17/11, 24/11 and 1/12
The selection process
Initial submission
If you wish to apply for this post, please send the following to Jill Lundquist at info@coll-mus-lon.org.uk by 17:00 on Friday 12 March 2010:
An up-to-date CV, detailing any appropriate qualifications, training, and experience
A statement (no more than 1000 words) detailing how you meet the criteria above, and why you should be considered for the post.
Longlist: interview
We will consider all submissions, and will produce a longlist of candidates for interview. Interviews will be held in the evening, in London, on 13 and 15 April. We will inform you if you are to be invited for interview by 19:00 on Friday 9 April. As part of the interview, we will ask you to outline (and explain) a concert programme that would be suitable for the choir to sing for its December 2010 concert.
Shortlist: rehearsal
Following interviews, we will produce a shortlist of up to three candidates, each of whom will be asked to take half an hour of a rehearsal with the choir – one on each of 5 May, 12 May and 19 May (during the choir’s rehearsal programme for the concert taking place on 30 May). The rehearsals will be at The Church of Our Most Holy Redeemer, Exmouth Market. Those invited for rehearsal audition will be notified by 19:00 on Friday 23 April. The programme for rehearsal will be music by John Tavener (b. 1944) and John Taverner (1490–1545), and you will be expected to rehearse one piece (or a section of one piece) by each composer for 15 minutes (the choice of pieces to be notified when we invite you to the rehearsal).
Appointment
The successful candidate will be informed by Friday 28 May, and will be expected to meet with the Committee at some time in June (date to be negotiated). The first rehearsal of the new term will be on 1 September.
Probation
The first three concerts will form a probation period, during which the both the appointee and the choir will evaluate the ‘match’.
