Music at St Gabriel’s 

Here at St Gabriel’s we have a long a varied music tradition which continues to this day.  We have a full organ and a grand piano in church as well as some very talented musicians within the congregation. 

Singing and music has been a treasured part of life at St Gabriel’s for over 100 years. In church we have a pipe organ, and a choir singing at every Sunday morning service, and for two evening services a month. Our vision is to include our whole local community in coming together to make music. Singing and music-making improves health, happiness, and wellbeing, and we believe it should be available to all people.

Email me at singingstgabriel@gmail.com if you are interested in getting involved!  It’s going to be great music, sung with enthusiasm and creativity.

Tim Burke, Choir Director

The Organ Restoration Project 

As you may already be aware, the Organ Committee is hard at work on a fundraising bid to the
National Lottery Heritage Fund, to undertake a complete restoration of the organ. It may
sound OK during services, but the reality is that it is in an incredibly poor condition and
deteriorating rapidly! As part of this project, we are planning a range of activity including performances, schools and community workshops, and teaching organ lessons to young people, all inspired by the very rich musical heritage here at St Gabriel’s.

An important aspect of the project is the creation of a ‘digital archive’. That is, an online library
containing as many artefacts (photos, concert programmes, newspaper cuttings, recordings,
parish notices etc.) as we can find, going all the way back from the present day to the
installation of the organ in 1905. It is likely we will accompany the digital archive with an in-church exhibition at some point.

The Organ Committee distributed a paper survey at services recently. They are keen to gather information and memorabilia in relation to everyone’s experience of musical activities at St Gabriel’s, stretching all the way back to the installation of the organ in 1905, and the value we place on our musical heritage. This is part of a significant fundraising bid to restore the organ and build a programme of activities around this over a number of years including work with the community and young people. Please do share the survey with people who may not currently be coming to Church. 

You can downlaod a copy of this survaey below or pick up a paper copy from the back of church or the Parish Office. 

Many thanks

The Organ Comitee 

Meet Tim Burke!
Tim was born in Kingston upon Thames, and sang as a chorister at Kingston Parish Church, and at HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace.
He was Organ Scholar at Exeter College, Oxford, and went on to train as an opera conductor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the National Opera Studio and the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House.
He has conducted the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Opera North, the Royal Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and others. He is passionate about new music and making music in the community.
We are very pleased to welcome him to the role of Choir Director at St Gabriel’s