It was a day different to the usual one we enjoy, but enjoyable nonetheless. Originally scheduled as Choral Evensong, we were asked by the Right Reverend Dr Gregor Duncan, Bishop of the Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway of the Scottish Episcopal Church, to instead provide the music for a Chrism Mass when priests from all over the diocese gather to renew their ordination vows and to bless various oils used in their ministry.
The Bishop delivered a homily, and made the choir feel particularly welcome and an integral part of the service during it, which was commented on afterwards by several choir members.
Directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied by Steven McIntyre the setting was Harold E Darke's rather nice Communion Service in F, with the soprano soloist Ruth Elder, tenor and baritone soloist Ian Gibson, and solo quartet made up of Ruth Elder, Pam Barrowman, Ian Gibson and Stewart Macrae. Well done to all of them!
The anthem was a little gem by New York based Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, called Ubi Caritas which if you haven't heard it before is well worth a listen. A recording during which you can look at the sheet music too can be seen on YouTube here, and the sheet music is available to purchase from the RSCM here.
The next outing is for 20 of our singers who are making the journey south to Peterborough Cathedral on 9th April to join forces with our counterparts from the rest of the country as we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the founding of RSCM Cathedral Singers by Martin How, in what promises to be a splendid Choral Evensong which includes O praise the Lord, a new introit written by Martin How for the occasion, Ayleward Responses, Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in D by George Dyson, and Surrexit a mortuis by Charles Marie Widor (written not only for double choir but for two organs!).
The next time the full choir meets is on 14th May when we close the first half of our 2016 season with Choral Evensong in Dunblane Cathedral. Originally planned as a joint service with RSCM Young Scottish Voices, for various reasons the youngsters aren't now available to join us for that service which will include Litany to the Holy Spirit (Peter Hurford), Richard Seal Responses, Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in E (Herbert Murrill), and Rejoice the Lord is King (Malcolm Archer).
Showing posts with label rscm voices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rscm voices. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 March 2016
Sunday, 9 August 2015
2016 season announced
Hot off the press, our choir members have just been enjoying our annual residential rehearsal weekend which this year has been at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan Castle, and during the weekend all of the venues for our 2016 season were announced, so including the remaining three events of 2015 all of our confirmed future activities can now be revealed to the world as:
Full details of each service will be announced here and on Twitter nearer the time, and of course dates and venues are always published in The Network which is distributed to RSCM members and affiliated churches alongside Church Music Quarterly.
- 5th Sep 2015, 4pm - St John's Episcopal Cathedral, Oban - Choral Evensong
- 3rd Oct 2015, 4pm - St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth - Choral Evensong
- 14th Nov 2015, 4pm - Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh - Joint Choral Evensong with Young Scottish Voices
- 6th Feb 2016, 5.30pm - Carlisle Cathedral - Choral Evensong
- 19th Mar 2016, 4pm - St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow- Choral Evensong
- 9th Apr 2016 - Peterborough Cathedral - RSCM Cathedral Singers Golden Jubilee Celebration
- 14th May 2016, 4pm - Dunblane Cathedral - Joint Choral Evensong with Young Scottish Voices
- 19th to 21st Aug 2016 - Residential Rehearsal Weekend (no public performance)
- 10th Sep 2016, 4pm - Bothwell Parish Church - Choral Evensong
- 8th Oct 2016, 4pm - St Cuthbert's Parish Church, Edinburgh - Choral Evensong
- 12th Nov 2016, 4pm - Culross Abbey - Joint service with Young Scottish Voices
Full details of each service will be announced here and on Twitter nearer the time, and of course dates and venues are always published in The Network which is distributed to RSCM members and affiliated churches alongside Church Music Quarterly.
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Birthday Choral Evensong
On Saturday 31st May 2014 we celebrated five years as a choir by singing Choral Evensong in Paisley Abbey joined by RSCM Young Scottish Voices (the first time they juniors have sung with our adult choir, but not the last!) and members of our sister choirs from England, RSCM Voices North, RSCM Voices South and RSCM Voices West. We were glad too that the director of the RSCM, Andrew Reid, had accepted our invitation to come and celebrate with us, and he had a brief chat to the massed singers after the rehearsal (and for longer in the pub afterwards).
There were one or two last minute calloffs because of illness, but we still made up a choir of 83 singers under the direction of Frikki Walker, and accompanied on Paisley's majestic organ by Richard Walmsley, who have been respectively our Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director / Organist since we first tentatively met in summer 2008 (our fifth birthday has been calculated from our first actual service, which was in January 2009).
Rehearsals started at midday and right from the off it was obvious that we were going to be making some spectacular noises in the service, but to be honest any service that has Parry's wonderful anthem I was glad as the introit can't fail to be spectacular! The full music list was
The weather in the west of Scotland has been lovely and sunny over the past few days, which meant that the Abbey, and Paisley, were looking their best, and if you're going to be stuck indoors on such a lovely day there are many worse buildings to be stuck inside.
The Abbey staff were very welcoming, providing us with refreshments during our short break from rehearsals, and Rev Birss said afterwards he was looking forward to welcoming us back for our 10th anniversary! I suspect we'll be back sooner though.
The service itself lived up to its promise, and the wee bits during rehearsals where Frikki had been on at us to watch him while he played about with tempi (as he does so effectively) seemed perfect as everyone had clearly taken to heart his promise that he would be changing things on the spur of the moment. Afterwards we had the obligatory group photo in the sun outside the west door of the Abbey (see below, with the other photos taken by Gordon Smith).
So, to the pub! RSCM Scottish Voices are a sociable bunch, and took the opportunity of having new friends visiting from England to show them what we do after every service. Space for around 50 had been reserved in the local Wetherspoons pub, which allowed us to enjoy inexpensive Real Ale, and food on demand! Everyone seemed to have had a good day, judging by the smiles and laughter, and after several hours gradually we drifted away to our respective homes, hotels, boarding houses, and in at least one case another licenced premises!
The photos below were all taken by RSCM Scottish Voices tenor Gordon Smith (gordonrasmith if you want to look him up on Flickr) and are reproduced here with his kind permission. If any of the singers from the day would like to access downloadable high quality versions of any photos, contact RSCM Scottish Voices administrator by email and it'll be sorted.
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| Andrew Reid (r) chatting to the choir |
There were one or two last minute calloffs because of illness, but we still made up a choir of 83 singers under the direction of Frikki Walker, and accompanied on Paisley's majestic organ by Richard Walmsley, who have been respectively our Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director / Organist since we first tentatively met in summer 2008 (our fifth birthday has been calculated from our first actual service, which was in January 2009).
Rehearsals started at midday and right from the off it was obvious that we were going to be making some spectacular noises in the service, but to be honest any service that has Parry's wonderful anthem I was glad as the introit can't fail to be spectacular! The full music list was
- Introit: I was glad - Charles Hubert H Parry
- Responses: Bernard Rose (cantor: Gary Young)
- Psalm: 150 (chant by Charles Villiers Stanford)
- Canticles: Charles Dyson in D
- Anthems: This lovely lady sat and song - Bryan Kelly
Let all the world - Ralph Vaughan Williams - Voluntary: Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne
The weather in the west of Scotland has been lovely and sunny over the past few days, which meant that the Abbey, and Paisley, were looking their best, and if you're going to be stuck indoors on such a lovely day there are many worse buildings to be stuck inside.
The Abbey staff were very welcoming, providing us with refreshments during our short break from rehearsals, and Rev Birss said afterwards he was looking forward to welcoming us back for our 10th anniversary! I suspect we'll be back sooner though.
The service itself lived up to its promise, and the wee bits during rehearsals where Frikki had been on at us to watch him while he played about with tempi (as he does so effectively) seemed perfect as everyone had clearly taken to heart his promise that he would be changing things on the spur of the moment. Afterwards we had the obligatory group photo in the sun outside the west door of the Abbey (see below, with the other photos taken by Gordon Smith).
So, to the pub! RSCM Scottish Voices are a sociable bunch, and took the opportunity of having new friends visiting from England to show them what we do after every service. Space for around 50 had been reserved in the local Wetherspoons pub, which allowed us to enjoy inexpensive Real Ale, and food on demand! Everyone seemed to have had a good day, judging by the smiles and laughter, and after several hours gradually we drifted away to our respective homes, hotels, boarding houses, and in at least one case another licenced premises!
The photos below were all taken by RSCM Scottish Voices tenor Gordon Smith (gordonrasmith if you want to look him up on Flickr) and are reproduced here with his kind permission. If any of the singers from the day would like to access downloadable high quality versions of any photos, contact RSCM Scottish Voices administrator by email and it'll be sorted.
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
Sunday, 4 August 2013
2014 dates and venues
Hot off the press, our choir members have just been singing in our annual residential rehearsal weekend, and during the weekend all of our dates and venues for our 2014 season have been announced. All of what follows, and more, can be found on our Future Services and Events page which will be updated with more specific information of times and music list as it all becomes available. The information below includes the rest of our 2013 dates as well as the 2014 ones, and all dates are Saturdays.
On 14th September 2013 at 4pm we will be singing Choral Evensong in St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral, in the beautiful city of Inverness. This will be our first visit to Inverness, and all of the choir are very much looking forward to it, particularly our two members who live in Elgin who will have a significantly shorter trip than usual!
On 12th October 2013 we will be departing from our normal services, and will instead be taking part in a concert at 7.30pm in the historic Dunfermline Abbey. It's a concert in conjunction with The Carnegie UK Trust, in their 100th year, and it's entitled 'Most Elevating of Voices' - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: a transatlantic celebration.
As well as hearing RSCM Scottish Voices sing, this will also be an opportunity to hear the organ played by the exceptionally talented Michael Bawtree, who although Scottish based is very much in demand internationally as an organist and choir director. You can read more about Michael on a Herald article here and on Glasgow Chamber Choir's website here
The first 15 minutes of the concert will be in the old nave (by kind permission of Historic Scotland) and we will then move to the newer (heated and lit!) Abbey to complete the evening.
The concert will include music by Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Peter Philips, George Dyson, Herbert Howells, Edgar Bainton, Charles Villiers Stanford, and George Frederick Handel.
The transatlantic element of this is that on Wednesday 20th November 2013 the other half of the celebration takes place in the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, New York City, USA, and there is quite a lot of music in common between the two concerts. Sadly we don't get to travel to New York to sing, but conversely they don't get to come to Scotland either! There is no charge for attending the Dunfermline concert, but it's by ticket only and they are being issued by The Carnegie UK Trust so to reserve yours please contact the Trust by email to centenary@carnegieuk.org or call their office on 01383 721445.
The press release from the Carnegie UK Trust is as follows:
On 23rd November 2013 we return to St Aloysius' RC Church, Rose St, Glasgow, where at 5.45pm we will take part in their Vigil Mass on the eve of the festival of Christ the King. This is an absolutely stunning building, both visually and acoustically, and we are very much looking forward to our return visit there, having first sung in the Vigil Mass in 2011.
Our 2014 season commences on 15th February 2014 at 4pm with a first visit to the lovely town of Linlithgow, where we will be singing in the beautiful St Michael's Parish Church, right next to Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots
On 5th April 2014, the eve of Passion Sunday, at 4pm we make our first foray into the Scottish Borders, when we sing in Peebles Old Parish Church, a lovely building overlooking the high street of Peebles.
They say that time flies when you're having fun, and this certainly seems to be the case with RSCM Scottish Voices, because having sung our first ever service in January 2009 our 2014 season is our fifth as a choir, so to celebrate this anniversary we've decided to put on a special Choral Evensong on 31st May 2014 at 4pm in the historic Paisley Abbey, and we're going to be inviting members of our sister choirs RSCM Young Scottish Voices, RSCM Voices North, RSCM Voices West, and RSCM Voices South, to join us. So there will be singers from all over Great Britain converging on Paisley to raise the roof of the Abbey, which itself has been celebrating a rather more splendid anniversary year in 2013, being 850 years old!
Our Musical Director Frikki Walker is Director of Music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow and many of our members also sing in the cathedral choir there. Our choir is grateful for a variety of support we receive from St Mary's so we always enjoy a visit to what has become, despite our membership being drawn from all over Scotland, almost "home" territory. On 14th June 2014, the eve of Trinity Sunday, we will be singing Choral Evensong in St Mary's Cathedral at 4pm, and doubtless it'll be followed by some of the best socialising we engage in throughout the year, as the cathedral (and specifically the cathedral choir members) know how to throw a party!
Our annual residential rehearsal weekend will take place from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th August 2014. The venue has still to be decided, we'll have a think about how well Stirling University has just suited us this weekend and decide whether we want to return there or not, but in any case it involves no public performance or access, it's purely rehearsing and socialising.
Another welcome yet overdue return visit will be on 6th September 2014 when we travel to St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee, to sing Choral Evensong at 4pm. Our previous visit back in 2010 was memorable not just for the music we sang, but for the outstanding welcome we received from the cathedral, and in particular Stuart Muir and his choir members.
It's a year of first visits, and although it's taken us five years to get something scheduled, our trip to sing Choral Evensong in the very historic St Giles Cathedral on Edinburgh's Royal Mile on 4th October 2014 at 4pm is one to which we're really looking forward.
Our 2014 season will draw to a close with another eagerly anticipated return visit, this time to the stamping ground of our Assistant Musical Director Richard Walmsley who is also the Organist and Master of the Choristers in St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral in Perth, where we will sing Choral Evensong at 4pm on 1st November 2014.
So, by the end of 2014, our fifth anniversary year, we will have sung in abbeys, cathedrals and significant churches throughout a large chunk of the Scottish mainland, from Dumfries in the south west to Inverness in the north west, Peebles in the Borders to Aberdeen in the north east. We know there's a lot more of Scotland to be visited, and it's in our plans to visit further north than Inverness, (perhaps St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney, maybe Shetland), further west than Glasgow (Oban springs to mind, as does perhaps the tiny yet charming Cathedral of the Isles in Millport on Cumbrae), and further into the Scottish Borders (oh wouldn't it be great to be able to sing in one of the ruined Borders Abbeys). But all of that's for the future. Watch this space. Or better still, come and hear us, maybe even come and join us!
On 14th September 2013 at 4pm we will be singing Choral Evensong in St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral, in the beautiful city of Inverness. This will be our first visit to Inverness, and all of the choir are very much looking forward to it, particularly our two members who live in Elgin who will have a significantly shorter trip than usual!
On 12th October 2013 we will be departing from our normal services, and will instead be taking part in a concert at 7.30pm in the historic Dunfermline Abbey. It's a concert in conjunction with The Carnegie UK Trust, in their 100th year, and it's entitled 'Most Elevating of Voices' - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: a transatlantic celebration.
As well as hearing RSCM Scottish Voices sing, this will also be an opportunity to hear the organ played by the exceptionally talented Michael Bawtree, who although Scottish based is very much in demand internationally as an organist and choir director. You can read more about Michael on a Herald article here and on Glasgow Chamber Choir's website here
The first 15 minutes of the concert will be in the old nave (by kind permission of Historic Scotland) and we will then move to the newer (heated and lit!) Abbey to complete the evening.
The concert will include music by Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Peter Philips, George Dyson, Herbert Howells, Edgar Bainton, Charles Villiers Stanford, and George Frederick Handel.
The transatlantic element of this is that on Wednesday 20th November 2013 the other half of the celebration takes place in the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, New York City, USA, and there is quite a lot of music in common between the two concerts. Sadly we don't get to travel to New York to sing, but conversely they don't get to come to Scotland either! There is no charge for attending the Dunfermline concert, but it's by ticket only and they are being issued by The Carnegie UK Trust so to reserve yours please contact the Trust by email to centenary@carnegieuk.org or call their office on 01383 721445.
The press release from the Carnegie UK Trust is as follows:
To celebrate the musical legacy of Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie UK Trust, there will twinned concerts in Scotland and the USA, featuring what Carnegie called ‘that most elevating of voices’ – the pipe organ, as well as choral music particularly associated with the Carnegie UK Trust. Carnegie funded 7,689 organs throughout the world, with over 4000 in the USA and over 3000 in the UK. The Carnegie UK Trust funded the pioneering publication in the 1920s of ten volumes of Tudor church music which was to transform musical life in the UK and throughout the world. In Dunfermline, the RSCM Scottish Voices choir will sing some of this beautiful repertoire in the mediaeval nave of Dunfermline Abbey, with the rest of the programme containing music by a former chair of the Trust, Sir George Dyson, as well as some of the finest repertoire for choir and organ, sung in the Abbey church.
On 23rd November 2013 we return to St Aloysius' RC Church, Rose St, Glasgow, where at 5.45pm we will take part in their Vigil Mass on the eve of the festival of Christ the King. This is an absolutely stunning building, both visually and acoustically, and we are very much looking forward to our return visit there, having first sung in the Vigil Mass in 2011.
Our 2014 season commences on 15th February 2014 at 4pm with a first visit to the lovely town of Linlithgow, where we will be singing in the beautiful St Michael's Parish Church, right next to Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots
On 5th April 2014, the eve of Passion Sunday, at 4pm we make our first foray into the Scottish Borders, when we sing in Peebles Old Parish Church, a lovely building overlooking the high street of Peebles.
They say that time flies when you're having fun, and this certainly seems to be the case with RSCM Scottish Voices, because having sung our first ever service in January 2009 our 2014 season is our fifth as a choir, so to celebrate this anniversary we've decided to put on a special Choral Evensong on 31st May 2014 at 4pm in the historic Paisley Abbey, and we're going to be inviting members of our sister choirs RSCM Young Scottish Voices, RSCM Voices North, RSCM Voices West, and RSCM Voices South, to join us. So there will be singers from all over Great Britain converging on Paisley to raise the roof of the Abbey, which itself has been celebrating a rather more splendid anniversary year in 2013, being 850 years old!
Our Musical Director Frikki Walker is Director of Music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow and many of our members also sing in the cathedral choir there. Our choir is grateful for a variety of support we receive from St Mary's so we always enjoy a visit to what has become, despite our membership being drawn from all over Scotland, almost "home" territory. On 14th June 2014, the eve of Trinity Sunday, we will be singing Choral Evensong in St Mary's Cathedral at 4pm, and doubtless it'll be followed by some of the best socialising we engage in throughout the year, as the cathedral (and specifically the cathedral choir members) know how to throw a party!
Our annual residential rehearsal weekend will take place from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th August 2014. The venue has still to be decided, we'll have a think about how well Stirling University has just suited us this weekend and decide whether we want to return there or not, but in any case it involves no public performance or access, it's purely rehearsing and socialising.
Another welcome yet overdue return visit will be on 6th September 2014 when we travel to St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee, to sing Choral Evensong at 4pm. Our previous visit back in 2010 was memorable not just for the music we sang, but for the outstanding welcome we received from the cathedral, and in particular Stuart Muir and his choir members.
It's a year of first visits, and although it's taken us five years to get something scheduled, our trip to sing Choral Evensong in the very historic St Giles Cathedral on Edinburgh's Royal Mile on 4th October 2014 at 4pm is one to which we're really looking forward.
Our 2014 season will draw to a close with another eagerly anticipated return visit, this time to the stamping ground of our Assistant Musical Director Richard Walmsley who is also the Organist and Master of the Choristers in St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral in Perth, where we will sing Choral Evensong at 4pm on 1st November 2014.
So, by the end of 2014, our fifth anniversary year, we will have sung in abbeys, cathedrals and significant churches throughout a large chunk of the Scottish mainland, from Dumfries in the south west to Inverness in the north west, Peebles in the Borders to Aberdeen in the north east. We know there's a lot more of Scotland to be visited, and it's in our plans to visit further north than Inverness, (perhaps St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney, maybe Shetland), further west than Glasgow (Oban springs to mind, as does perhaps the tiny yet charming Cathedral of the Isles in Millport on Cumbrae), and further into the Scottish Borders (oh wouldn't it be great to be able to sing in one of the ruined Borders Abbeys). But all of that's for the future. Watch this space. Or better still, come and hear us, maybe even come and join us!
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
RSCM Young Scottish Voices
Music will include the Introit Come on all ye people by Christopher Norton, Plainsong Responses, Psalm 100 arranged by Colin Mawby, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in c minor by George Dyson, and the Mozart anthem Dona Nobis pacem which has been arranged by G Strid and M Donnelly.
RSCM Young Scottish Voices is a choir made up of enthusiastic youngsters, and the future for choral music in Scotland looks bright if they're anything to go by. Please come along and support them if you can, in this their first visit to Glasgow.
If you can't get along but you have children aged 9-15 who may be interested in joining, please have a look at the RSCM Scotland website for details.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
New conductor for our sister choir
The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) has appointed a new choral conductor to take over direction of its training choir for singers in the North of England. Robert Poyser will direct RSCM Voices (North) from September 2012.
Robert is also Director of Music at Beverley Minster, and brings to the choir a wealth of choral directing experience, particularly with children, from his work at Beverley and previously at Chelmsford Cathedral. He takes up the post in September, beginning with Evensong at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral at 3.00pm on Saturday 8th September 2012.
Robert succeeds Gordon Appleton, who retires this summer after a long and successful tenure in which he built the choir up to a strong membership of boys, girls and adults.
RSCM Voices are the Royal School of Church Music’s training choirs of singers drawn from affiliated churches around the country. As part of Voice for Life, the RSCM’s singing training scheme, they seek to build upon the work done in parish choirs. “These choirs provide excellent choral training which explores new and challenging repertory in lots of great venues” says Colin Davey, the Programme Manager of Voice for Life. “The remit of the group is to explore ways of encouraging young people in particular to sing, and to give a rounded experience of different kinds of church music, all the while inspiring them to reach the highest possible standard.”
RSCM Voices (North) has a busy programme of singing engagements arranged throughout the region, from Newcastle to Peterborough and from Carlisle to Liverpool. Entry is by audition and further details can be found at the RSCM website, www.rscm.com
Robert is also Director of Music at Beverley Minster, and brings to the choir a wealth of choral directing experience, particularly with children, from his work at Beverley and previously at Chelmsford Cathedral. He takes up the post in September, beginning with Evensong at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral at 3.00pm on Saturday 8th September 2012.
Robert succeeds Gordon Appleton, who retires this summer after a long and successful tenure in which he built the choir up to a strong membership of boys, girls and adults.
RSCM Voices are the Royal School of Church Music’s training choirs of singers drawn from affiliated churches around the country. As part of Voice for Life, the RSCM’s singing training scheme, they seek to build upon the work done in parish choirs. “These choirs provide excellent choral training which explores new and challenging repertory in lots of great venues” says Colin Davey, the Programme Manager of Voice for Life. “The remit of the group is to explore ways of encouraging young people in particular to sing, and to give a rounded experience of different kinds of church music, all the while inspiring them to reach the highest possible standard.”
RSCM Voices (North) has a busy programme of singing engagements arranged throughout the region, from Newcastle to Peterborough and from Carlisle to Liverpool. Entry is by audition and further details can be found at the RSCM website, www.rscm.com
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
RSCM Scottish Voices crosses Hadrian's Wall
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| York Minster |
The service was on the bank holiday Monday (May Day) and we all made our own separate ways there, some going down a good few days early to make the most of the trip, some going there and back on the day itself, and many dragging along long-suffering partners with them! After a most enjoyable circuitous route zigzagging by motorcycle through the borders I arrived in York on the Sunday afternoon just in time to check into the hotel and wander over for the Minster Choir's Choral Evensong when they sang Ayleward Responses (a favourite of mine), Dyson in D Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (standard repertoire but very enjoyable nonetheless) and Ye choirs of new Jerusalem by Stanford (which RSCM Scottish Voices sang the previous week in Old Saint Paul's Church in Edinburgh - and dare I say it our sopranos sounded better in the opening phrase "the paschal victory to hymn in strains of holy joy" at the bit where tradition dictates most choirs squeak out and clip short the top G on the first syllable of the word "victory"). The sound the Minster choir made was magnificent, particularly the men, a glorious rounded luxuriant noise. Great stuff!
The hotel I and two others were staying in was the Guy Fawkes Inn, straight across from the south west corner of the Minster in High Petergate, and it's built on the site of the building in which Guy Fawkes was born and right next to the church in which he was baptised - St Michael le Belfrey. It's a Real Ale pub and the beer, food, accommodation and staff were all excellent and to be recommended. In fact, if you follow the link to the church the photo on Wikipedia of the front of the church (at the time of writing this) shows the Guy Fawkes Inn to its right.
So to the day of the service, and after two of us had a nice long walk together round the city walls doing the touristy bit in the morning we all assembled at 1pm in St William's College, a 15th century Tudor building directly to the east of the Minster. Once the mundane things like seating arrangements were over we started a fairly short rehearsal under the direction of Gordon Appleton, Director of RSCM Voices North and RSCM Regional Music Adviser for the north of England (well, for the moment he is, since he's about to retire which was partly the reason for this service being on his patch and under his direction).
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| York Minster and the city walls |
After a short'ish break we continued the rehearsal in the Minster but surprisingly and slightly disappointingly to me the decision was taken that we wouldn't robe for this (I always think that robing while rehearsing in choirstalls is to be encouraged), and we got through all the music (although despite it being a long psalm it was actually less than we normally would sing in an RSCM Scottish Voices service simply because there was no Introit).
Another very short break (during which the battle for access to the toilets commenced!) and we were then into the service of Choral Evensong itself. It takes a lot to pull a choir that size together in such a short space of time, and rather enjoyably pretty much all of the wee odd rough edges of the rehearsal disappeared as the choir produced a very pleasing sound, and Gordon Appleton came into his own with some very animated directing while standing on a box so those furthest from him (that would be me then) had a sporting chance of seeing a beat to follow! Oh, and the priest singing the responses was none other than Richard Shephard!
Congregationally it was a pretty full Quire (for those reading this who aren't familiar with cathedral architecture and nomenclature that's the name for the part of the building in which we were singing, not a dreadful typo!) and afterwards I didn't quite manage to find and speak to all those I'd have liked to, but I did manage to finally meet Sue Snell, the RSCM's Head of Education, who has always been unfailingly helpful in email correspondence. It's good to put a face to an email address!
The great and the good then disappeared off to an official function, where I'm given to understand that Lord Gill, Chairman of the RSCM Council, made special mention of RSCM Scottish Voices in his speech, and I'm also told that it had been noticed that RSCM Scottish Voices singers acquitted ourselves admirably! One comment I got from a VERY experienced church musician who was in the congregation and whose opinion I respect 100% was "all in all a great event".
I'm neither great nor good, so along with most of the Scottish contingent I went across the road to the Guy Fawkes Inn, where we had food and drink and good company well into the night.
As I said at the start of this post, this is the first time we've been invited to one of these events, and it was really nice to be asked. It was a real shame that we couldn't take everyone in the choir, but that was all out of our hands, however those who were there represented the choir well and I have no doubt we'll be asked again and hopefully might be in a position to take more singers along.
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