Music at St Michael’s has been an important element in the worship since it began in 1852.

We have one of the few fully functioning Parish choirs in the city of Christchurch. The principal choir is an SATB Choir of about 16 voices. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings 7:30pm – 9:30pm. With musical leadership at most 10:00am Sunday Masses and usually three 7:00pm Choral Evensongs a month, the very efficient and friendly choir covers a wide range of repertoire. The choir performs to a high standard.

Our organ, one of a handful in Christchurch which are fully intact, is a treasured feature of our worship.

Any enquiries about music at St Michael and All Angels, about joining choirs, or
organ tuition, should be addressed to our director of music Paul V Ellis.

Photo: Alistair Kinniburgh

Our Choir

We have one of the few fully functioning Parish choirs in the city of Christchurch. The principal choir is an SATB Choir of about 16 voices. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings 7:30pm – 9:30pm. With musical leadership at most 10:00am Sunday Masses and usually three 7:00pm Choral Evensongs a month, the very efficient and friendly choir covers a wide range of repertoire. The choir performs to a high standard.

We have four groups of adult singers.

Full Time Choir members sing at 10:00am Mass on Sundays, 7:00pm Festal Evensong 1st Sunday of the month and at major Festivals. They can choose to sing in the evenings as well.

Evensong Choir Usually sings 7:00pm 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month and is made up of full-time members rostered from the above and extras from the Deputy list.

Deputies A pool of singers who offer to sing on an occasional basis in their chosen voice part when a full-time member is absent. Entry to the St Michael’s Choir is usually through this channel. Some elect to sing only in the ‘Evensong Choir’.

Photo: Alistair Kinniburgh

Young Voices

Young voices offers your child free, multi-faceted learning in music, teamwork, leadership and development of confidence.

Choral training for children is on Wednesdays in school term times:

Training Group: 3:10pm – 3:30pm
Performance Group: 3:30pm – 4:00pm

The Young Voices programme is open to pupils from all schools, in Years 1-8.

The groups rehearse at St Michael’s Church School.

All children begin in the Training Group. Auditions are not required. When they have completed their initial skill level, pupils graduate to the Performance Group.

The Performance Group sings about once a month in the Sunday 10.00am church service at St Michael & All Angels.

Children in the young voices programme will be involved in exceptional music to a high standard of performance and with an emphasis on vocal training and music-reading skills.

They will also learn teamwork, leadership, and skills for life. The training and discipline involved in their participation will become an essential part of their whole development as a child, their leadership skills will be fostered, they will receive significant individual attention in a challenging and fun environment, and the 'Voice for Life' training scheme is available providing a path to internationally recognized musical qualifications.

How to join: contact Paul V Ellis.

Photo: Jocelyn Kinghorn

Our Organ

The present Organ at St Michael’s, ordered for the new church for installation in 1872, arrived in 1873. Like its smaller predecessor in the old church, it was built by the London firm of Henry Bevington and Sons. Shipped in zinc lined crates it was assembled by Henry Edgar Jenkins, a local organ builder who had worked with two of the greatest European nineteenth century organ builders, Aristide Cavaille-Coll and William Hill. Jenkins set up a workshop in Kaiapoi and was much involved in the organ at St Michael’s over the coming years. It is curious to note that all pipes were numbered by Bevington, presumably because there was no guarantee of skilled assembly in the Antipodes! The two manual instrument was a modest one which within a year had the addition of a Pedal 16-foot wooden Diapason and by 1886 had been resited in its present position with a Pedal Violin on the chancel case. This work was done by Jenkins. A Gamba stop was then added in 1883. In 1895/6 the organ was rebuilt by the organ-building partnership of Fincham and Hobday in favour of obtaining a new organ from Lewis of Brixton in London. By curious coincidence George Fincham had been apprenticed to Henry Bevington at the age of fourteen. Fincham and Hobday enlarged the instrument to a three manual one and retained all the Bevington pipework as well as adding 10 new ranks of their own.

The Director of Music is happy to provide organ tuition and to encourage young people, especially those with piano experience, to take up the organ. There are many more potential opportunities for organ performance than for piano on a concert stage.