St Mary’s Music Foundation

The Saint Mary’s Music Foundation was founded to provide local children with the opportunity for musical education and training from which they might not otherwise be able to benefit.

Eligible children are offered free instrumental tuition (currently piano, organ or singing) in return for singing in St Mary’s Choir. This in turn provides the children with further singing training and the experience of working with other children in a team. In addition to singing at St Mary’s, the choir performs many concerts at venues both at home and away, the costs of which are subsidised by the Music Foundation.

St. Mary’s Music Foundation offers two organ scholarships supported by Hampshire County Council designed to prepare young organists for the world of Cathedral Music. They assist the Director of Music with training and educating the choristers and gain valuable experience of accompanying and choir training. With the outstanding Walker organ this provides ideal conditions for the development of talented young musicians wishing to follow the church music profession.

We are urgently looking for funds to continue our work and are actively looking for ways of increasing our collaboration with local schools.