Position Description

The Cathedral Church of St. James is hiring a Children’s Community Choir Director

We are seeking to recruit a suitably qualified individual to serve as the first Director of our Children’s Community Choir programme, beginning early 2025. This position could be full-time or part-time.

The Children’s Community Choir programme

Our purpose in this programme is to share the gift of singing with children in our neighbourhood, enabling children to explore a variety of musical traditions, including the tradition of Canadian church music, and to receive free musical tuition. In doing this we seek to build relationships of service with the children and families of our neighbourhood, and to make St. James Cathedral feel more fully like a place that belongs to them. Additionally, we seek to give suitably able children the opportunity to sing with adults in our excellent choirs, raising the visibility of children in our liturgies. All of this serves our vision to be a cathedral fit for the City of Toronto.

The Director

The success of the programme depends on the appointment of a suitably qualified Director. This person will need to have the musical skills together with the teaching skills to make the programme a success. They should be able to inspire confidence among parents/caregivers and school leaders. They will be familiar with the tradition of choral church music as well as a greater range of music reflective of the cultures that make up our city. The position is available as either a full-time or part-time role. In the event that a full-time Director is appointed, they will be asked to give time and support to the work of the Cathedral’s Director of Music, which will in turn create some margin for the Director of Music (or other music department staff) to be able to contribute to the programme. The Children’s Community Choir will sit within the St. James Cathedral music department and relate closely with the children’s programme.

Director’s main duties:

• Recruitment of singers (e.g. through special events; bring a friend days; school visits; posters; social media)
• To lead practices and performances, organizing or providing accompaniment as necessary
• To liaise with cathedral staff (e.g. over room set up)
• To foster healthy relationships with parents and families
• To coordinate volunteers
• To choose repertoire (buy copies, prepare scores)
• To develop routines for choristers around arrival/departure, a code of behaviour, clear expectations about attendance
• To promote a healthy and inclusive culture in which faith can be explored openly
• To ensure as paramount the safety and wellbeing of all children involved in the programme, following all safeguarding processes and procedures of the Cathedral and Diocese.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience of leading children’s music programmes
• Experience of having taught children in the classroom
• Experience of having taught singing
• Choral experience as a singer
• Minimum of a B.Mus. degree • Able to exhibit broad musical knowledge, including music from non-Western cultures
• Able to lead others with gentleness and empathy
• A team player with excellent communication skills
• Able to take initiative, to cope with some ambiguity and trial and error as the programme develops
• Relationships with Toronto musical community, or ability to build them
• If not personally a member of the Anglican Church, able to demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and sympathy with its ethos
• The person appointed will need to be able to pass a police check.

We offer competitive salary according to experience.
Further information on the programme is available by emailing Serena Li, Dean’s Assistant at sli@stjamescathedral.ca. To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to sli@stjamescathedral.ca