St Dunstan's Church, Mayfield
In fact, it is noted in 1731 that St Dunstan's was renown for its "skillfull singing of the same Psalms", from the installed gallery at the west end of the church.
Their schedule also includes singing at weddings and funerals when requested in addition to leading Advent and Christmas Carol services.
The choir also maintains a strong junior presence, and draws children and young people from the surrounding area through a reputation for high quality music making and education.
Recent events have included a liturgical performance of excerpts from three of J.S Bach’s Advent Cantatas including ‘Wachet Auf’ with the Mayfield Festival Baroque Orchestra in December 2021,[9] singing Choral Evensong at Chichester Cathedral where they sang the rarely-performed Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G by Henry Smart in February 2022, and a performance of G.F Handel's 'Messiah' with the London Mozart Players in December 2023.
[10] 1968-2004 Kenneth Pont 2004-2022 Andrew Benians 2022-2023 Jack Gonzalez-Harding 2023-2024 Thomas Hawkey-Soar (Interim) 2024- Lucy Piercy[11] In 1997, a new Walker Organ was installed in St Dunstan's.
[12] This has widened the repertoire of potential music, and also facilitated an expansion of organ recitals to include Dame Gillian Weir, John Scott, Simon Preston and Olivier Latry, and in the 2018 festival James O’Donnell, organist and master of the choristers of Westminster Abbey.
[6] Positioned in the South Chancel, it featured 13 stops and a Gothic Fronted case, and was significantly more compact than the organ which replaced it in 1997.
Founded in 1970 by Kenneth Pont, the then director of music at St Dunstan's Parish Church, The Mayfield Festival of Music and the Arts is a bi-ennal festival, with most concerts take place in the 15th century St Dunstan's church or in the Old Palace, one of six Sussex mansions which belonged to the See of Canterbury.
The buildings now house Mayfield Girls School, whose choirs regularly provide additional sopranos for festival choral works.
[17] It began as part of an attempt to raise funds for the building of St Dunstan's church hall.
The guiding spirit was the vicar, Canon Donald Carter, who, along with the parish church organist, Kenneth Pont, organised a series of events to fill a fortnight.
Programmes have included performances by names such as John Ogdon, Peter Donohoe, Paul Tortelier, Igor Oistrakh, James Galway, Evelyn Glennie, Victoria de los Angeles, Dame Janet Baker, Emma Kirkby, Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Stephen Kovacevich (in the 2018 Festival) and Joanna Macgregor (in the 2022 Festival).
At the 2022 Festival, along with the Mayfield Consort, they gave a memorable performance of Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium as part of their English Choral Masterpieces concert.
[18] In 2018 the Festival held a competition for composers to write a cantata based on the life of Saint Dunstan.
Jeremy Summerly wrote the libretto and composed a Prologue based on plainchant attributed to St Dunstan.
The delayed première of the Cantata of St Dunstan eventually took place as part of the opening concert of the 2022 Festival, in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex.
