Axminster Chamber Choir was formed in 2012 in response to a request, made to Judy Martin by several local singers, for a small auditioned ensemble which would specialise in singing Early Music with very few voices to a part. The choir held its first rehearsal in October, 2012, and gave its first public performance in December of that year.

The group has now increased in both size and repertoire to consist of twenty five singers performing polyphonic music from the Renaissance period to the Baroque. It has performed both liturgically and in concert and has, on three occasions, joined with Yeovil Chamber Choir (pictured left) to explore some of the larger Early Music repertoire.

Axminster Chamber Choir rehearses on Monday evenings from 6.00-7.30pm in the Minster Church in Axminster. 

​​Our Director, Peter Parshall began playing the organ at school, before continuing his studies with David Saint at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, whilst a student at Westminster College, Oxford. Having held church and cathedral posts in both Oxford and Dublin, he is now based in East Devon where he runs a private organ teaching practice and directs several choirs. He worked for the Royal School of Church music for many years, both in the UK and in Ireland, as an educator, examiner and facilitator, and was honoured recently with the award of Associate of the RSCM.

Peter was the founding Artistic Director of the South Wessex Organ Society, and is Chapel Music Co-ordinator at Jesus College, Oxford, where he directs the chapel choir and trains the student Organ Scholars. An Associate of the Royal College of Organists, he is also an occasional composer, with works having been commissioned and recorded by choirs in the UK, Ireland and the USA. He is the co-editor of the choral anthology, Weddings for Choirs, published by Oxford University Press, and a contributor to the New Dictionary of National Biography also for OUP.

---