Music plays a central role in the life of St Mary’s, shaping our worship and strengthening our community. Since 2024, we have been developing a vibrant and inclusive music programme, centred around three strands of choral music.
Our Choral Scholars — a core SATB ensemble of four professional singers, augmented for feast days and special services — perform a diverse range of sacred music, including introits, motets, psalms, and four-part Mass settings, both accompanied and unaccompanied.
Current and former choral scholars include graduates of the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, as well as former choral scholars and singers from King’s College London, the Old Royal Naval College Chapel Choir, and the University of London Chamber Choir.
*We are currently advertising for the post of Bass Choral Scholar (26-27)*
Our auditioned Chorister Programme offers children in Years 3-8 the opportunity to receive a high-quality choral education within the Anglican choral tradition.
The choristers rehearse weekly after school during term time, and sing as a robed choir at Mass on the final Sunday of each month. Throughout the year, they also perform alongside our professional adult singers, forming the top line of a traditional cathedral-style choir.
In addition to singing regularly at St Mary’s, Summer 2026 will see the choristers undertake their first external service at Southwark Cathedral, alongside their first recording project.
Our Community Choir invites adults and teenagers of all abilities to sing more popular liturgical repertoire in a relaxed, informal atmosphere—with no need to read musical notation. This group rehearses after Mass on the final Sunday of each month and sings at Mass on the first Sunday of each month.
During the Autumn term our Christmas Choral Engagement Project forms choirs in two local primary schools for any child who wishes to take part. They receive vocal instruction and prepare music for a large carol service. At the service, they sing with our scholars, choristers and community choir. In the Autumn of 2024, approximately 50 children took part. This project brings choral singing to children who otherwise might not experience it and is a place of recruitment for our Choristers.
Interested in joining one of our choirs?
Choristers are currently recruited from two local primary schools — Crampton and Keyworth — with advertisements held annually within these schools. However, our Director of Music, Dr Edwin Hillier, is always happy to hear from members of the congregation or children at other nearby schools (Years 3–8) who might be interested in joining the scheme. Choristers meet each Monday evening during term time (4pm–6pm) to rehearse and receive tuition in singing and music theory. The programme is free of charge, and each rehearsal ends with a sit-down meal provided by the church.
Choral Scholarships are advertised on the church’s website as and when vacancies arise. Our Director of Music is also always pleased to hear from singers interested in joining our growing pool of paid deputies during the academic year.
Our Community Choir is open to members of the congregation as well as local adult and teenage singers. Rehearsals take place after Mass on the final Sunday of each month (11:45am), and the choir sings at Mass on the first Sunday of each month (10:30am).
Our Director of Music, Dr Edwin Hillier (choir.stmarynewington@gmail.com), is always pleased to hear from singers interested in any aspect of our music programme.
The Director of Music
Dr Edwin Hillier is a choral director, composer, and educator based in South London, with over fifteen years’ experience leading music in church, educational, and community settings.
In September 2024, he was appointed Director of Music at St Mary, Newington, where he has established a chorister scheme, choral scholars, and community choirs as part of a growing music programme at the church.
Alongside his work at St Mary’s, Edwin is Professor of Composition and Academic Studies at the Royal College of Music.
As a composer, his work has been performed internationally at venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, and Roulette (New York City), by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. Recent works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and France Musique, and recorded on the NMC label. He was the recipient of a Scottish Award for New Music in both 2020 and 2021.
Alongside his compositional and academic work, Edwin has led vocal and education projects across the UK, including major initiatives for Handel Hendrix House, Glasgow Cathedral Festival, and sound Festival. He is also Musical Director of Bromley Youth Choir and Bromley Youth Chamber Choir: high-level SATB choirs for singers aged 11–18 from across the borough.
Previous liturgical posts include Director of Music at St Michael’s, Camden Town, where he conducted an accomplished parish choir and established a treble choir at St Michael’s CoE Primary. Edwin was previously a Baritone Lay Clerk at Gloucester Cathedral, and has also worked extensively as a freelance singer, conductor, and deputy choral director. This has included regular work as a baritone with the choirs of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh and St Mungo’s Cathedral, Glasgow, alongside frequent deputising for the Director of Music at St Mungo’s Cathedral.
Edwin was a choral scholar at the University of Cambridge, where he read Music, before undertaking postgraduate and doctoral study at the Royal College of Music.
The Organist
Our regular organist is Mr Chris Baczkowski. Chris took up the post of Organist at St Mary, Newington in January 2025. Starting the Organ aged 13, he was successively the Organ Scholar of Wakefield Cathedral and Homerton College, Cambridge, where he read History. Whilst at University, he accompanied the College Choir in venues such as St Martin in the Fields, Coventry and Guildford Cathedrals, foreign tours to Germany, Prague, and France, and on a CD of Christmas music. In addition, he was the Director of Music for the Ordinariate Church, as well as President of Homerton College Music Society. While living in London since 2020, he is currently a Trustee of Creative Oundle for Organists, a charity which organises internationally renowned courses for young organists and musicians.
Additional Music at St Mary’s
Zinafe Zimbabwean Choir
The Zimbabwean Mother’s Union meets at our church once a month and a Zimbabwean Mass is held on the 2nd Sunday of most months where people can experience their vibrant traditional African singing within the context of the Anglican Liturgy. We are delighted that they join us twice a year to sing at our Parish Mass.