Our Musical Director

Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson is a music lecturer at York St John University.  As well as the Stamford Bridge singers she leads the York St John vocal ensemble, a chamber a cappella singing group. Prior to her work at York St John, she was the director for the Queen’s University Chamber choir where she also completed her PhD (2018). Sarah-Jane's PhD focused on community choirs in Northern Ireland, exploring how the choral singing space constructs collective identities and how this may impact community building in areas of conflict. It was recently published as a monograph (2023). 

She has extensive choral singing experience, having worked as a professional chorister during her Master’s Degree in the United States (2005-2008), and also singing in the Philharmonia choir during her undergraduate years at the University of Cape Town (1998-2000). 

Her repertoire experience ranges from the larger oratorio and requiem works of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, to shorter religious and contemporary pieces of music. Moving beyond the Classical Genre, she has conducted workshops in South African folk choral music and was the musical director for a number of school musicals and choirs during her years as a music educator in South Africa, the United States and the UK. Her main motivation as a choral director is that the singers are enjoying the repertoire they perform.