Our Scholars

In September 2013, a new Scholarship scheme began at St John's under the leadership of our Director of Music. Four Choral Scholars (SATB) and an Organ Scholar now take part in most of the Sunday services, and at Choral Evensong, usually on the first Sunday of each month.

Visit Our Services page for more details.

Vacancies

Gilbert Jackson BASS

Gilbert is currently a 4th year Chemist at Imperial College London. Gilbert started his singing career at the age of 11 by first joining the choir of St Mary’s, Bury St Edmunds.

Gilbert played the organ at St John’s Notting Hill as its organ scholar for a year under Tom Primrose. Gilbert is currently chair of the Imperial College Chamber Choir and still occasionally plays the organ for services both in London and in his home county of Suffolk. 

Gilbert was also a member of the winning team (Imperial) of University Challenge Series 51 and in his spare time he has made it his mission to visit every church within The City of London and every English cathedral.

Nao Fukui TENOR

Nao is a gap year student doing a Music Production and Sound Engineering course at the Abbey Road Institute in London. His singing began at the age of 8, when he started lessons and joined the school choir. Since then, he has sung treble in St Margaret’s Church next to Westminster Abbey, and has provided a strong lead as 1st Tenor in the Eton College Chapel Choir. He also performed for the ENO’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’ revival in 2019, and was part of the acapella group, ‘The Incognitos’, in 2022-23.

As a violinist, Nao has led the South London Youth Orchestra, toured with the Eton College Symphony Orchestra, and played a wide variety of chamber repertoire.

Nao is currently exploring his passion for contemporary music production and songwriting, creating acapella videos and multi-instrumental arrangements for social media. He is hoping to read Economics & Management at Oxford next year.

Ruby Skilbeck SOPRANO

Ruby Skilbeck was a chorister at Guildford Cathedral since the age of 9. She served as Head Chorister from 2020-2021 and holds a Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Gold Award. Ruby was the winner of BBC Young Chorister of the Year 2021.  She has recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and has done recordings for BBC1 Songs of Praise, BBC Radio 2 and as a soloist for BBC Radio 4. She won the Junior Guildhall Vocal Prize 2022 and has recently performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Albert Hall as well as a soloist at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall in a charity concert with John Rutter. She is also a member of Genesis Sixteen in the 2023-24 cohort. Ruby is now continuing her vocal studies, after having left school, with a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. 

Lingling Bao-Smith SOPRANO

Lingling is a soprano and violinist based in London. Her musical journey began at the age of 8 when she became a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral. During her time there, she sang in numerous concerts, BBC broadcasts and CD recordings, and joined the choir on tour across France and Germany. After leaving Salisbury, she became a member of the Rodolfus Choir, and spent her Gap Year as a Choral Scholar in Sherborne Abbey. As a freelancer, she has performed and recorded with Continuum Choir, English Symphony Orchestra Chorus and with vocal consorts, Cantus Byrdus and Lady Clare’s Consort. She is also a member of Genesis 16 in the 2024-25 cohort. A punk rocker at heart, she is the violinist for the band, The Orchestra (for now), and is excited to be playing the Mountain Stage with them at Green Man Festival in August 2024. Lingling is now in her final year of undergraduate at Royal Holloway, where she is reading Music. 

Lottie Vitaloni CHORAL SCHOLAR

Lottie began singing at the age of 9 in the Children’s Voices at St-Martins-in-the-Fields. In Spring 2016, she played the role of Diane in the English Touring Opera’s production of Iphigénie en Tauride. Lottie went on to sing in various choirs at school and served as the Head of the Marlborough College Chapel Choir for 2023/24. She was a member of their Schola Cantorum, singing evensong at The Queens College, Oxford, and Salisbury Cathedral. In 2023, Lottie attended the Rodolfus Foundation’s Eton Choral Course under Anna Lapwood, recording evensong for BBC Radio 3 and singing at Magdalen College, Oxford. She was a member of the National Children’s Choir from 2018-2022 and has just accepted a place in the National Youth Choir (18-25) for their 2024/25 season. Lottie attended the Junior Royal Academy of Music from 2020-2024, singing in their Chamber Choir, and most recently at Marylebone Music Festival alongside the Orion Orchestra in their performance of Beethoven Symphony No. 9. Having just left school, Lottie is now in her first year at conservatoire, studying viola with Yuri Zhislin at the Royal College of Music. 

Vacant ORGAN SCHOLAR