Author Archives: vhk10

Pfaffing around

Posted on August 31, 2026 by vhk10

We were on holiday in Bavaria at the end of August, and our local church was S. Katharina in Pfaffing. I duly went along to Mass one Sunday. This being Germany, we were issued with treble-line hymnbooks and there was … Continue reading →

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singing under the stars

Posted on July 31, 2026 by vhk10

Reading FC’s visit to Carlisle United in 2024 was the first one for over 40 years. My return to Carlisle, with the Reading-based Erleigh Cantors, wasn’t after quite such a long interval but it wasn’t within the lifetime of this … Continue reading →

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Wagner comes to Christ Church

Posted on July 18, 2026 by vhk10

My previous experience of a live Wagner opera was Tristan at the Bristol Hippodrome, before the lifetime of this blog. I was invited to sing in the chorus of Tarnhelm Opera’s staging of Meistersinger, but wasn’t free on the evening … Continue reading →

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a memorial service in Wells

Posted on July 15, 2026 by vhk10

I was invited to attend a memorial service for Martin, who was a long-standing member of a choir I visit Cathedrals with; we often found ourselves travelling home together on the train. It was held in the quire at Wells … Continue reading →

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Saturday night headliners

Posted on June 30, 2026 by vhk10

For a second year Bath Abbey Chamber Choir sang the ‘First evensong of the Patronal Festival’ of SS Peter and Paul, on a Saturday. (I missed last year’s service.) It’s a chance to push the boat out a bit, more … Continue reading →

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the darkness and the light are both alike

Posted on June 10, 2026 by vhk10

The Erleigh Cantors’ annual concert shifted again from May to June. The concert this year very nearly didn’t happen at all! While we were eating or getting changed in the interval between rehearsal and concert, there was a very localised … Continue reading →

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Back at the International Festival

Posted on June 6, 2026 by vhk10

The Bath International Music Festival, after nearly being subsumed entirely in the Literature Festival (I didn’t go to any of the handful of concerts in it last year as it clashed with my Romanian choir tour) now no longer runs … Continue reading →

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fizz and cake for volunteers

Posted on June 5, 2026 by vhk10

It was Volunteers’ Week and there was a special evensong at the Abbey, with the men and boys singing Stanford in G and For lo, I raise up. It was well attended, possibly helped because there was a party at … Continue reading →

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I never want to sing The Spirit of the Lord again

Posted on May 28, 2026 by vhk10

A few years ago Elgar’s The Spirit of the Lord was the anthem at a forthcoming service I was due to sing in. In the run up to this we had several different conductors taking rehearsals and this anthem was … Continue reading →

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Liszt at Covent Garden

Posted on May 6, 2026 by vhk10

I went to the ballet for the first time in some years, to see the Royal Ballet perform Mayerling, choosing this because the plot appealed to me more than the usual fairy stories. The score was adapted from music by … Continue reading →

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a funeral and an anniversary

Posted on May 4, 2026 by vhk10

Having not sung there for a long time, I returned to St Mary’s Bathwick to sing twice within the space of a month, for a sorrowful and a joyful occasion. The first was the funeral of a former priest-in-charge at … Continue reading →

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from Palm Sunday to Good Friday

Posted on April 9, 2026 by vhk10

The Abbey Chamber Choir got to sing two services in Holy Week. As last year, we provided the music for the afternoon service on Palm Sunday, but this time it was a straightforward evensong. Somehow Ernest Bullock’s canticles in D … Continue reading →

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