About Us

About the Choir

Eltham Choral Society (ECS) is a registered charity that offers a welcoming environment for singers of all abilities. The choir is directed by our talented young conductor Max Barley. Members come from all over south London and north Kent. Parking is available in the surrounding streets and the venue is served by buses and Eltham railway station.

Concerts often feature professional soloists and orchestras. With a strong emphasis on community, ECS has collaborated with other choirs on a number of major projects. Generally, we perform locally but sometimes at prestigious venues such as St John’s Smith Square, Southwark Cathedral, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square and the Blackheath Halls. Every couple of years the Choir goes on tour either abroad or in this country.

The Choir supports young vocal talent by awarding scholarships to choral students and offers reduced rates to singers 25 years and under. The Anita Bursary is available to enable young people to join and benefit from the choir.

As well as having a long history, ECS is proud of its commitment to new music, having commissioned works from renowned composers including Bob Chilcott and Peter Maxwell Davis and young composers such as Gareth Treseder and Esther Bersweden. The choir is also proud to support the local community by performing informal concerts and carol singing to raise money for local charities.

Andrew Lenon – Accompanist

Andrew Lenon learned to play the organ at the Sidcup church where his father was the vicar. He was later Organ Scholar at Lincoln College, Oxford with responsibility for training the chapel choir. As part of his modern languages degree course, he spent a year in France studying the piano at the Toulouse Conservatoire and gave an organ recital at Mirepoix Cathedral. Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and currently the organist of St Mary’s Church, Wimbledon. He also accompanies the church choir when they sing at St Paul’s Cathedral and other prestigious venues. He recently accompanied the choir of the Old Royal Naval Chapel, Greenwich on its first foreign trip to Malta. Earlier this year he played the continuo for the Choir of the 21st Century’s performance of Bach’s St John Passion with soloists including Nicholas Mulroy and James Newby.