The new music list is now available. It is not only the final list of 2017, but also the end of Cardoso450, a project that has been a constant companion since February 2016. Cardoso's 6-part Requiem was one of the works that encouraged the project into existence; it is fitting that it should be one of the final works we perform. But what of the rest?
Read moreO Doctor optima
On the 15th October we celebrate the solemnity of St Teresa of Avila (also called St Teresa of Jesus). St Teresa is one of only four female Doctors of the church, named in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, and is given the title Doctor orationis, Doctor of Prayer.
Read moreOn pilgrimage to Walsingham
Today we are privileged to be travelling to Walsingham, site of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1061. The great priory church and shrine were demolished during the Reformation, but popular devotion, unlike buildings, was impossible to destroy, and Walsingham is once again a place of pilgrimage.
Read moreQ4 Music List published
The Music List for October - December is now available.
October is vibrant with a rich selection of Marian music, as is traditional, and this selection extends to the celebration of two great Carmelite saints on 1st and 15th, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Teresa of Avila. For the latter, the Choir will be joined by the Chamber Choir of St George’s College, Weybridge, and will be premiering a new composition written specially for the Choir by Colin Mawby and commissioned by former parishioner John Hughes. November sees Richafort’s beautiful Requiem added to the Choir’s repertoire, and the addition of strings for Mozart and Monteverdi for the feast of Christ the King.
The main highlight of this Music List, though, is our programme of Tudor music for Advent and Christmas. We combine undoubted masterpieces with comparatively unknown works as we continue to explore the enormous wealth of music from the period. By turns grandiose and intimate, joyous and melancholic, confident and troubled, the political and religious turmoil of the Tudor period created some of the most sublimely, sometimes almost agonisingly beautiful music we have.
Meanwhile, planning for our Cardoso450 project continues behind the scenes with the cataloguing of Masses and Motets by Cardoso and his contemporaries and the creation of the first batch of new editions to be used at the start of 2016 when the project launches.
World premiere in October
To mark the close of the year-long celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Teresa of Avila – for which the Choir sang at the Opening Mass, the Choir will be giving the world premiere of Colin Mawby’s O doctor optima in the presence of the composer at the 6.00pm sung Mass on October 15th. The work has been generously commissioned by former parishoner John Hughes.