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 7.15pm until 9pm. For more rehearsal info, please go to When and Where.

Our repertoire ranges from Handel to Fauré to Vivaldi and more besides. In January 2025, Francesca Massey takes up the baton as our new Music Director after a term working with Matthew Watts and many years working with celebrated conductor Alan Vincent. We are grateful to both our former conductors for all they brought to the choir, especially Alan for his dedication and service. 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

Francesca Massey joined us as Music Director in January 2025.

Francesca Massey started as Musical Director of Gravesham Choral Society in January 2025.  Francesca pursues a busy and varied portfolio career as a freelance choral conductor, organist, examiner and music teacher, having previously worked as a cathedral musician for over 15 years.  Born in Birmingham, Francesca was educated at Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music (on a prestigious ABRSM Scholarship). 

Francesca’s love of choral music began as a singer in the National Youth Choir and as a founder member of the CBSO Youth Chorus.  She has since worked extensively with choirs of all ages, sizes and abilities, ranging from cathedral choirs, to chamber choirs (including The Durham Singers, Durham Cathedral Consort of Singers, and The St Peter’s Singers, Peterborough) and choral societies; she is also the MD of both Cranbrook and Upchurch Choral Societies.  Additionally, she has led various Come-and-Sing events and school outreach projects.  She has participated in numerous conducting workshops with David Hill, Patrick Russill, Judith Clurman (Julliard School) and Christopher Robinson, amongst others.    

As a prize-winning Organist, Francesca performs extensively as a 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 has performed widely as an accompanist (working regularly with groups such as The BBC Singers), broadcasting on TV and Radio, as well as recording a number of acclaimed CDs with various choirs; Gramophone Magazine describing her as a ‘hugely gifted accompanist.’  She has held organist posts at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Gonville and Caius College and Great St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, as well as at Manchester, Peterborough, Durham and Rochester Cathedrals.

Francesca also works regularly as a piano/organ teacher (both privately and for masterclasses/residential courses), continuo player, piano accompanist and examiner (for the Royal College of Organists).

More information can be found at www.francesca-massey.org

Our rehearsal pianist

Debbi Parks, LLCM LTCL GTCL (Hons) AISTD Dip, joined us as accompanist in January 2025.

Debbi Parks has worked in many fields of music, dance, drama and professional theatre as a teacher, performing arts workshop facilitator, examiner, composer, arranger, musical director and accompanist. She studied the piano and flute at Trinity College of Music, London and has been an international examiner of drama and speech for Trinity College London since 2003 and an examiner of music since 2010.

In the theatre world, Debbi has composed and co directed several musicals including The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina and Clara and The Nutcracker and has been musical director for at least 50 pantomimes, directing a host of English and Australian soap stars and boy band members!  

She has worked extensively in all areas of the performing arts, as a teacher of piano, flute, singing in musical theatre, and ballet, and was previously head of music at the Deborah Capon College, Whitstable and the Millennium Musical Theatre College (MMTC) in Bexley. Through her work at MMTC, she was invited to join the drama panel at Trinity in 2002 to bring performing arts and musical theatre specialism to the drama panel when the Performance Arts and Musical Theatre syllabuses were created.

Debbi currently works for the Learning and Participation departments of both the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and The Royal Ballet School - leading or accompanying performing arts workshops and dance classes in various educational establishments in and around London and regularly accompanies The Royal Ballet Company and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company as a guest pianist for morning class, as well as guesting with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company. She recently accompanied the International Trumpet Player John Wallace on a live broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and her piano compositions are regularly used worldwide on TV and Radio. Debbi’s numerous compositions for the vocational syllabus music for the ISTD Imperial Classical Ballet Faculty have been in use all over the world for more than 35 years, and CD’s and Digital downloads of her own piano compositions  are available from www.debbiparks.com as well as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc.

Debbi enjoys playing the ‘cello in various local orchestras and string quartets, and is delighted to explore and expand new avenues of music making in the community. She is very excited to be joining Gravesham Choral Society as regular accompanist.