About the choir

We are a large choir, well-known around Kent for our high standards and excellent performances of choral pieces where we collaborate with professional musicians and soloists. We meet on Wednesday evenings in Northfleet, Gravesend, from 7pm until 8.45pm. For more rehearsal info, please go to When and Where.

Our repertoire ranges from Handel to Fauré to Vivaldi and more besides. In September 2024, Matthew Watts joined us as our new Music Director after many years working with celebrated conductor Alan Vincent. If you’d enjoy singing in a friendly, supportive atmosphere, why not join us on Wednesday evenings? Singing is not only good fun, healthy and hugely rewarding, it is a great way to meet new people. For more info, go to Join Us FAQs or please do Contact us and we will do our best to answer any questions.

Gravesham Choral Society is a registered charity (No. 278822).

OUR DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

We are very pleased to welcome, Matthew Watts as our new music director from September 2024.

Matthew Watts is the music director of the Gravesham Choral Society, London Classical Choir and Orchestra and the Primrose Hill Choirs. He studied at Glasgow University and Trinity College of Music, where he won the Ricordi Conducting Prize, and went on to study conducting with Cathal Garvey and Denise Ham from the Royal Academy of Music and singing with Lyndon Van Der Pump from the Royal College. 

Choirs that he has conducted include the Glasgow University Chamber Choir, the professional Choir of Ealing Abbey, the Reading Festival Chorus and the Royal Tunbridge Wells Choral Society. He conducted the European première of Quest by George Crumb and was the Chorus Master for the British staged première of Goldschmidt's opera Beatrice Cenci at the Spitalfields Festival. He has appeared on BBC Radio London and Cambridge, run workshops as far afield as Nepal, started the most remote choir in the world on Rapanui (Easter Island) in the Pacific, and in 2024 conducted 100 singers on the pitch at Wembley Stadium! Outside work he enjoys photography, blogging, football, languages, Lindy hop dancing and travelling the world.

Our rehearsal pianist

We are delighted to have Francesca Massey join us as our new rehearsal pianist.

Francesca is a vastly experienced accompanist, having worked with a multitude of ensembles (including The BBC Singers): broadcasting on TV and Radio, as well as playing on numerous recordings with various choirs. She was described as a ‘hugely gifted accompanist’ by Gramophone Magazine. Born in Birmingham, Francesca was educated at Cambridge University (as Organ Scholar at Gonville and Caius College), and the Royal Northern College of Music. She held positions at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and at Manchester, Peterborough, Durham and Rochester Cathedrals, before embarking on a varied portfolio career.

Francesca performs extensively as an organ recitalist throughout the UK and abroad and works as a liturgical musician in a number of prestigious London churches and chapels. She has four critically-acclaimed solo recordings to her name. Francesca also works as a choral conductor (she is the Musical Director of both Cranbrook and Upchurch Choral Societies), instrumental teacher, continuo player, pianist and examiner. More information can be found at www.francesca-massey.org