Category Archives: singing at services

2014 and 2015’s resolutions

Posted on January 9, 2015 by vhk10

2014 certainly had some very high points – comparable to if not better than the annus mirabilis of 2007. These include, in approximately chronological order: singing Messiah in Bombay and Goa with the South West Festival Chorus performing the Glagolitic … Continue reading →

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some new pieces for Advent and Christmas

Posted on January 2, 2015 by vhk10

Our well attended Advent and Christmas carols services brought some new music for me to sing. We made a dramatic entrance at Advent singing ‘Unborn’, the opening of Alec Roth’s oratorio The Traveller. Not often you get a text in … Continue reading →

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They shall laugh & sing

Posted on October 28, 2014 by vhk10

This is the inscription outside the new song room at Norwich Cathedral, which I visited for a weekend with the Erleigh Cantors. It was good to be somewhere with plenty of space, proper replica stalls and a decent accompanying instrument, … Continue reading →

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Starry anthems in Gloucester

Posted on September 13, 2014 by vhk10

I joined the Cathedral Chamber Choir on and off for part of its week in Gloucester Cathedral. On the Tuesday we sang Jonathan Dove’s Seek him that maketh the seven stars. I’d guess that this isn’t in the repertoire of … Continue reading →

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Peterborough pitch

Posted on August 24, 2014 by vhk10

There is a proposal to re-tune the organ at Peterborough Cathedral down to A=440. About a third of the necessary money had been raised when Robert Quinney landed the job at New College Oxford earlier this year, but when the … Continue reading →

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An upper-voice evensong

Posted on August 5, 2014 by vhk10

I don’t think I’d ever sung one of these before. In fact I don’t think I’d sung an upper-voice service since I was at school, though I have sung music for these forces in concerts, most notably in Turin. I’d … Continue reading →

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Wyvern Central

Posted on July 7, 2014 by vhk10

I didn’t get to sing in the Great Chorus but there was a reprise of two pieces that were performed at it: Zadok the Priest and the Hallelujah Chorus at the end-of-year Commemoration Service in Bath Abbey. This gathering must … Continue reading →

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the frivolous time of year

Posted on June 26, 2014 by vhk10

At this season the music I’m asked to sing tends to lighten up a bit. First up was Rossini’s Messe Solennelle with Bristol Choral Society – the first time I’d performed with them in Bristol Cathedral, so there was new … Continue reading →

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When our families are broken, when our homes are full of strife

Posted on May 9, 2014 by vhk10

The above text has just been added to the list of inappropriate/tasteless things I’ve sung at weddings (most singers I know have such a list). It was the first line of a verse of a hymn we sang during the … Continue reading →

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Good Friday and Easter 2014

Posted on April 29, 2014 by vhk10

This was actually my first Good Friday singing in the church choir (I’d been away the last two years), and this year the service took the form of Stations of the Cross with musical interludes. There were some new pieces … Continue reading →

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two Abbey services and a funeral

Posted on January 31, 2014 by vhk10

I joined the choir of St. Peter’s Caversham to sing a Saturday Evensong in Bath Abbey. Our canticles were Stanford in G and the introit and anthem were selected for Epiphany: Here is the Little Door by Howells, and Mendelssohn’s … Continue reading →

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Shading into Epiphany at Southwell

Posted on January 26, 2014 by vhk10

First engagement of 2014 was when the Cathedral Chamber Choir went to Southwell Minster for a weekend of services. Liturgically, the weekend shaded from Christmas into the first Evensong of Epiphany, and our choice of music reflected this. Karl Rütti’s … Continue reading →

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