Scholarships
The West London Chorus offers choral scholarships for aspiring professional singers who wish to develop their choral singing and sight-reading in preparation for university choral scholarships or as a means of broadening their repertoire knowledge. The scholarships are open to singers aged 18 to 30 or students in full or part time music education.
Our scholarships are each worth £1200 and successful candidates are expected to take part in about three concert performances a year and attend our weekly rehearsals on Tuesday evenings during term time, providing support and advice for other singers in their section.
There will also be occasional solo/quartet/semi chorus opportunities and a chance for the scholars to receive coaching from the choir’s Musical Director. It’s expected that choral scholars will also take an active role with social media for the ensemble and generally support the endeavours of the Chorus.
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For more information about our choral scholarships, use our Contact Us page or
download an application form.
Chiswick Choir is registered with Making Music (National Federation of Music Societies).
Our current scholars
Mary Offer is one of Classic FM’s Rising Stars 2025 and a soprano, conductor and award-winning composer. She is passionate about choral music, singing with All Saints Fulham and the Chamber Choir of St-Martin-in-the-Fields. She has received commissions from The Choir of Jesus College Cambridge, The Ripieno Choir and the Nash Ensemble and her work has been performed at the Barbican, Wigmore Hall and on Classic FM. Mary read Music as a Choral Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge and graduated with Distinction in MMus Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. She is now a Junior Fellow in Composition at the Guildhall School and Associate Conductor of The Ripieno Choir.
Grace McNamara is a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain under Nicholas Chalmers, and previously the Training Choir under Greg Beardsell, performing at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Wakefield Cathedral. Enjoying, in addition to choral music, the theatrics of operas and operettas, she has performed with Southgate Opera in productions including The Pirates of Penzance and La Vie Parisienne. As a violinist, she formerly attended and volunteered at Potters Bar Community Music School, playing in orchestras, chamber groups, and aiding in the education of young musicians. She is also currently a Junior Choral Scholar at St Saviour’s, Pimlico.
Ben Dunsmore is a tenor and conductor who has recently graduated from the University of Manchester with first-class honours and the Hargreaves Prize for a very high average. While in Manchester, he studied under Martin Bussey and was immersed in the choral scene, regularly singing with the Hallé Choir and Manchester Chamber Choir. Some memorable highlights include performing in the European Premiere of James Macmillan’s Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia and in a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Bach’s St John Passion, conducted by Nicholas Kraemer.
Alongside singing, Ben was Assistant Conductor of the University of Manchester Chorus (2024-2025) and thoroughly enjoyed directing a production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld during his undergraduate degree.
Nick McMahon started violin lessons at the age of 4 and was a member of Surrey Arts ensembles, both choral and orchestral, including the Surrey Youth Choir (2000-2006) under James Burton, Greg Beardsell and Rufus Frowde. In 2008, he took part in the world première of Bernard Cavanna’s Messe un jour ordinaire in Grenoble, France. From 2012 to 2018, Nick was Organist and Director of Music at St Nicholas, Alfold and St John the Baptist, Loxwood, during which time he also sang with the New London Singers, one of London’s ‘most exciting vocal ensembles’.
He now sings regularly with the Foundation Singers, the professional membership of the choir at St Nicolas, Guildford.