ST PETER’S SINGERS
St Peter’s Singers is a chamber choir of up to 35 voices based in Hammersmith W6. It emerged, in the
early 1980s, from members of a church choir looking for a wider repertoire.
From its founding years with Christopher Bracewell and others, it flourished and the repertoire grew to incorporate the mediaeval and modern, the sacred and secular. In 1990 the directorship was taken over by Michael Emery (Producer for the BBC Singers). His influence and musical knowledge further sharpened the choir’s choral technique. He introduced the choir to many of the major accompanied choral works and, under his influence, the choir performed its music at many major music venues and events.
Concerts have included Bach’s B Minor Mass, St John and St Matthew Passions, the Monteverdi Vespers and
Carissimi Oratorios in St James Piccadilly collaborating with musicians including I Fagiolini, His Majestys Sagbutts
and Cornetts, the London Baroque Soloists and The London Mozart Players. The Choir has also sung Evensong at Sherborne
Abbey and Southwark Cathedral. In 1992, and for the following two years, St Peter’s Singers was honoured to be
selected as resident choir for the Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund Christmas Concert, and performed in the presence of members
of the immediate Royal family at the Guards Chapel, Buckingham Palace.
More locally, the choir has performed music by Handel, Vaughan Williams, Howells, Vivaldi, Soler, Byrd and Tallis at St Peter’s Church Hammersmith, St Michael and All Angels Church, Chiswick and St Paul’s Hammersmith.
Regular singing workshops are held to further develop the choir’s technique. These have been led by visitors including Stephen Cleobury, Ron Corp, Bob Chilcott, Deborah Miles-Johnson and David Lowe.
Foreign trips are also a regular feature of the choir’s programme. The choir has sang for the ‘Messe Internationale’ in Notre Dame, Paris and also a Mass in St Marks’s, Venice. In 1997 the choir travelled to Moscow where it sang the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Russia with Ensemble XXI, Moscow under their conductor, Lygia O’Riordan - a concert that was broadcast live across Russia.
Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings during school terms in Holy Innocents, Paddenswick Road, London, W6 from 8:00 pm till 9:45 pm. Those interested in being considered for membership of the choir should contact the Secretary, Lucy Chambers, in the first instance, either by filling in the form on the “Contact Us” page or by phoning her on +44 (0)20 8994 0933.
In 2004 the Musical Directorship was taken over by Duncan Aspden.
Duncan Aspden
Duncan Aspden works with a range of ensembles and singers as a conductor, organist and
continuo player. A former Organ Scholar of Canterbury Cathedral and Jesus College Cambridge, Duncan has held
further positions at Bristol and Chelmsford Cathedrals. He completed post-graduate studies at the Royal Academy
of Music in 2005, having been awarded distinction and the coveted DipRAM for his final recital with the Academy
Chamber Choir. Alongside freelance work as a continuo player, he is Director of Music of the
City of Oxford Choir Musical Director of the St Peter’s Singers
and Associate Director of Music at Farm Street Church in Mayfair which has one of London’s leading professional
church choirs.
Duncan has performed for BBC Radio and Television, made a number of recordings, and directed choirs in concerts throughout Europe. He has participated in master-classes with James Bowman, David Hill, and the BBC Singers. He has won several prizes as both conductor and organist, and has appeared in the London Handel and Utrecht Early Music Festivals.
Andrew Wells
Andrew Wells, GLCM, LRAM, ARCO has been the rehearsal pianist for St Peter’s Singers since 1987. He graduated
at the London College of Music and also studied at Trinity College London. He plays for several choirs and has frequently
been rehearsal pianist for the BBC Singers and Symphony Chorus. He was organist at St Peter’s Hammersmith between 1987 and
1995 and is now organist of St George’s, Campden Hill.