Choral Evensong

The Rector speaks of the Transfiguration in his weekly audio message.

Festal Eucharist this morning is sung by members of the Saint Thomas Girls’ Course alongside Gentlemen of the Choir.

In 2005, music directors in the New York area expressed interest in joining together to form a chorister experience of the highest caliber for girls. The Choir School was delighted to offer space, resources and experience to the endeavor. Since then, the Choir School has proudly taken full ownership of the course and developed a schedule and musical standard parallel to that of the boys during the academic terms. In 2008, the course expanded to nine days. In 2011, the Course began on Saturday, July 30th and concludes today. In addition to singing this morning, the girls sang on Tuesday on Thursday at Choral Evensong.

‚ñ∫Over the years, two distinguished female organists & directors of music have shared the musical direction of the course: Sarah Baldock, who directed the girls last year and the year before, and Sarah MacDonald, who was last with us for the course in 2008 and returns to direct this year. Both hold prestigious positions in the United Kingdom and are mentors and role models in every way for the young women who participate in the course.

Sarah MacDonald came to the UK from her native Canada in 1992 as Organ Scholar of Robinson College, Cambridge after studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She was appointed Director of Music in Chapel at Selwyn College in 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. Sarah has taught organ and conducting for Eton Choral Courses, the Oundle School for Young Organists, and courses run by the Royal College of Organists. Sarah has played numerous recitals and made several recordings and has conducted choirs on tours throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Canada. A winner of the RCO Limpus Prize, Sarah is also a Fellow of the RCO.

‚ñ∫Sarah MacDonald’s Music Notes for today:

The Mass setting is by the contemporary English composer Jonathan Dove who was born in 1959. He studied at the University of Cambridge, and went on to a career as an accompanist and r√©p√©titeur (the official name for a rehearsal accompanist for operas) working with many singers. As a composer, he is best known for his choral music and his operas, one of which, Flight, is set in an airport waiting lounge. The Missa Brevis was commissioned by the UK Cathedral Organists’ Association in 2009, and has become a firm favourite in choirs throughout the UK ever since.

James MacMillan is another very successful contemporary composer, who lives in Glasgow in Scotland. He too was born in 1959, and he studied at Edinburgh and Durham Universities. All of his compositions reflect his strong Roman Catholic faith, and he has written several pieces of extremely beautiful liturgical choral music. The anthem sung during the Offertory is a striking setting of words from Psalm 96, “O sing unto the Lord a new song‚Äù. The music includes exotic vocal ornamentation, an aleatoric (or improvisatory) organ part, and long held “drone‚Äù notes in the lower parts under echoing and intertwining melody lines, evoking an unworldly mysticism.

During the Communion, the choir sings the well-loved motet “Let all mortal flesh keep silence‚Äù by Sir Edward Bairstow (1874-1946). Having studied at Durham University and then been Articled (what we would now call an Organ Scholar) at Westminster Abbey, he went on to be organist of York Minster, a post he held for over 30 years. Much of his music is in regular liturgical use throughout the world, and this anthem is a seasoned favourite, from the pianissimo, mysterious beginning right through to the deafening and climactic “Alleluias‚Äù.

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