Author Archives: vhk10

Kentish apples

Posted on July 30, 2024 by vhk10

Rochester was a Cathedral I sang in early on, and in fact I think it may have been the first Cathedral the Erleigh Cantors ever went to. Certainly it was one of my earliest excursions with them. And neither the … Continue reading →

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favourite hymns

Posted on July 8, 2024 by vhk10

I’m not going to actually reveal my favourites here; they change from day to day, and I also have some definite un-favourites! We hosted an evening of ‘favourite hymns and the stories behind them’ led by Pam Rhodes, in aid … Continue reading →

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Psalm 121 (Howells)

Posted on June 30, 2024 by vhk10

Bristol Choral Society’s season ended with a performance of Howells’ Hymnus Paradisi in the Bristol Beacon, for which we were joined by the return visit of some members of the Hannover Oratorienchor. This was my second performance of this work … Continue reading →

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Abbey round-up: May/June 2024

Posted on June 20, 2024 by vhk10

Bath Abbey Chamber Choir these days is being given quite a mix of services to sing, not just 9.30 am ones as it looked like at one time. May began with an evensong which included Ireland’s canticles in F, which … Continue reading →

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an electronic hymn board

Posted on May 25, 2024 by vhk10

Next stop was Prague, a city I’d never previously visited. On Sunday I went to the main Mass at Our Lady before Týn, where the choir located in the west gallery) was accompanied by an orchestra of significant size – … Continue reading →

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May is Mary’s month

Posted on May 16, 2024 by vhk10

The Erleigh Cantors usually perform a concert in May, and this year it was decided to honour the Marian connexion (our reader read the poem by Hopkins on this theme). We did so with a large number of mostly short … Continue reading →

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Psalm 121 (Mendelssohn)

Posted on May 8, 2024 by vhk10

The summer concerts of Bristol and Gloucester Choral Societies were nearly two months apart, but both include settings of this text. First up was Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Gloucester (where it was assigned to the Cathedral choir, singing ‘offstage’ in the … Continue reading →

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revisiting a work after a year

Posted on April 26, 2024 by vhk10

April has been a very quiet month musically. An early Easter in March, no Low Sunday cathedral weekend and too early for the next round of concerts. It’s mostly been rehearsals and a solitary evensong where we marked the Stanford … Continue reading →

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Three churches for Holy Week and Easter

Posted on April 5, 2024 by vhk10

I sang at or attended choral services in three different churches in Holy Week, including the Easter weekend. Bath Abbey Chamber Choir sang two of these services, Evensong for Palm Sunday and a Eucharist for Maundy Thursday. The novelty for … Continue reading →

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Verdi at the Beacon

Posted on March 25, 2024 by vhk10

Now that the Bristol Beacon is available to us, Bristol Choral Society can put on the bigger works that have been off the menu since 2018. First up was Verdi’s Requiem – a work that is thoroughly ingrained in me … Continue reading →

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