Author Archives: vhk10

why there are no posts in September

Posted on September 27, 2025 by vhk10

Of course that isn’t true because this will be the only September 2025 post in my blog. September, like January, is always a rather slack time for performances and this September just saw me singing in an evensong at church … Continue reading →

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Our Lady of Confusion

Posted on August 29, 2025 by vhk10

This is a cult of the Virgin (apparently a variant of Our Lady of Sorrows) associated with western Sicily. Our holiday just outside the town of Salemi coincided with the beginning of the festival in her honour, and the Capuchin … Continue reading →

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lots of 5/4 at Llandaff

Posted on July 31, 2025 by vhk10

One theme running through the Erleigh Cantors’ choice of music for our visit to Llandaff Cathedral was pieces with bars in 5/4 time. I got quite used to it. The most ambitious piece we did was a reprise of Frank … Continue reading →

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Abbey interregnum

Posted on July 27, 2025 by vhk10

It’s now time to quickly cover some services I sang at Bath Abbey during the gap between the departure of Dewi and the arrival of Adam. (Much of the Abbey Chamber Choir’s 4-year existence to date, including one period of … Continue reading →

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an Olympic Sanctus

Posted on July 10, 2025 by vhk10

I rejoined the South Cotswold Big Sing Group in Gloucester Cathedral to sing a work that had been on my hitlist for a while, Berlioz’ Te Deum. I’d heard a lot about performances of this piece that others had sung … Continue reading →

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Quadruple booked

Posted on June 30, 2025 by vhk10

Saturday 28th June was a day when I was wanted everywhere. There was a Berlioz Te Deum rehearsal in Gloucester; a wedding at church; the return visit of St Peter’s Singers of Exeter to join Bath Abbey Chamber Choir in … Continue reading →

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a service for PSOs

Posted on June 25, 2025 by vhk10

PSO in this context stands for ‘Parish Safeguarding Officer’, a job I’ve been doing at my church for four years. This year Bath & Wells, for the first time, organised social events specifically for us (some other Dioceses have been … Continue reading →

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a 35th anniversary concert

Posted on June 10, 2025 by vhk10

The Erleigh Cantors were deprived of any sort of 30th anniversary concert because it would have fallen in 2020. Nevertheless, an anthem was commissioned from Andrew Millington, and the 35th anniversary was marked in the same way with a new … Continue reading →

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the Transylvania programme

Posted on May 31, 2025 by vhk10

Gloucester Choral Society sang the same programme everywhere on our choir tour of Transylvania. Three blocks of choral music interspersed with organ pieces. (Except that in the castle we gave a cut-down unaccompanied programme twice with different singers each time.) … Continue reading →

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Gloucester Choral Society plays Transylvania

Posted on May 31, 2025 by vhk10

It’s a remarkable choir that persuades dozens of its members (and hangers-on) to spend over three days travelling by train from one end of Europe to the other to go on their choir tour. But many of us on the … Continue reading →

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Bookending with Bach

Posted on May 15, 2025 by vhk10

The centrepiece of Gloucester Choral Society’s final concert of the season was Rheinberger’s Mass in E flat for double choir. I’d actually previously sung this with two other choirs, the Erleigh Cantors (alongside another current GCS member) and Priory Voices. … Continue reading →

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a farewell organ recital

Posted on April 30, 2025 by vhk10

I went to what was billed as an ‘Easter Bank Holiday Bonanza’, Dewi Rees’ final organ recital before leaving Bath Abbey for St Alban’s Cathedral. For this, a small part of the quire was cordoned off so that the audience … Continue reading →

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