Choirmaster

January 2024

St John’s College is a world-class Christian, African school situated on a magnificent heritage campus in Houghton, Johannesburg, offering quality education from Pre-Primary to Post-Matric. The school has an outstanding academic record, entering candidates for the IEB and Cambridge A Level examinations.

The combined choirs of the Preparatory School and College lead the worship during the weekly sung Mass. The choirs also sing regularly at services where major liturgical works feature, such as Gaudy Day, the Remembrance Day service and the traditional Carol Service. The choir leads the singing at the termly Choral Evensong. Major choral works such as Bach’s St John Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah with orchestra and professional soloists have been performed in recent years. The choir’s repertoire includes a significant number of African choruses, which are sung at the weekly Mass, led by our Head of African Music.

St John’s College seeks to appoint a full-time choirmaster, who will join the music department’s choral team and be responsible for the combined Senior Preparatory Choir and the Chapel Choir of the College in a SATB setting as well as a smaller ensemble, the Schola Cantorum, which performs a more advanced repertoire during mass and choral concerts. The choirmaster will also be responsible for designing and implementing a promotion strategy for the choral programme amongst the junior singers in the Preparatory school. This position reports to the Director of Music.

The successful candidate should have:

•  an appropriate tertiary qualification in Music, specialising in choral conducting, or choirmaster’s licentiate or equivalent.
  • practical knowledge of voice production and singing technique.
•  experience in training treble and changing male voices in a choral situation.
•  piano or organ playing skills of at least a Grade 7 level and, therefore, the skill to rehearse the choir from the keyboard.
•  excellent sight-singing and piano sight-playing skills.
•  a working knowledge of sacred and contemporary choralmusic repertoire.
•  previous experience conducting regular services with choirs singing anthems in an Anglican liturgical setting.
•  experience rehearsing with an orchestra and choir in preparation for performances of orchestral masses and choral concert works.
•  experience in teaching music theory, music as a subject (IEB) vocal and instrumental teaching, which will be considered an advantage.

Additionally, we are interested in other skills and experience that candidates may have and their ability to make a wider contribution to school life. Members of staff are expected to support the Christian ethos of the school.

To apply for this position, please complete this
link https://forms.gle/ADUSZtFYnwKJNmna8
by no later than 31 August 2023.

St John’s College, in line with POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act) will attempt to ensure the confidentiality of all applicants for this role. All reasonable measures will be in place to protect personal information but will be used in the recruitment, selection, and reporting process. By submitting your application for this position, you are recognising and accepting this disclaimer.

The school reserves the right not to proceed with the filling of the post. The appointment of candidates is at the sole discretion of St John’s College, taking into account factors such as St John’s College Employment Equity Policy. Applications are welcomed from South African citizens only or persons with a valid work permit. An application will not in itself entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment and failure to meet the minimum requirements of the advertised post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. If you have not heard from St John’s College within two weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have been unsuccessful in your application