Choral Union and Choral Scholars
After a well-earned summer break, choir rehearsals recommenced on Wednesday 11 September. We have a busy term ahead, and are looking forward already to Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday 13 October. New members are always welcome for the Choral Union (adult singers) and the Choral Scholars (secondary-school age students, who receive tuition in singing and music theory).
Music Library
One of the more tedious tasks of a choir director is to keep track of the choir’s music collection. Over the years this has been a rather ad hoc process, and Romney Keane has been a huge help to me in finding storage solutions and organizing copies. Earlier in the year, with the assistance of a few members of the choir (particularly Bastiaan Vos, Aodh Quigley and Henry Roberts), I began to organize systematically all of the music that the choir uses on a regular basis. This was a huge task, and many of you will have seen the piles left in the side aisle as this was in progress. On Sunday 8 September, with Aodh’s help, the last sorting was done, and the music is now neatly ordered, with most of it stored upstairs in the gallery.
Choral Compline
Choral Compline, our weekly reflective evening prayer service, recommenced after the summer break on Friday 6 September. If you haven’t come to this service before, please do drop in some Friday at 6pm. It lasts for about 20 minutes and provides a wonderful opportunity to break out of the busy Friday evening routine. I’m grateful to a small number of choir members who come to sing for this service every week.
Choir Trip to Kilkenny
On Sunday 16 June, members of the Sandford and St Philip’s Choral Union travelled to St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny to sing a joint Evensong with the Cathedral Choir. Directed by Dr Harry Meehan, Director of Music at St Canice’s, the combined choirs sang Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B-flat, Stainer’s magnificent anthem “I Saw The Lord”, and the preces and responses in a setting by Thomas Tallis. The organ was played by our own Dr David O’Shea, who treated us to the slow movement of Mendelssohn’s Sonata No.3 in A major, Op. 65.
Some singers travelled down early and joined the singers at St Canice’s at their service of Choral Eucharist that morning, where we sang Haydn’s Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (more commonly known as his “Little Organ Mass”) and Richard Lloyd’s anthem “View Me, Lord”.
Following a successful joint performance of John Stainer’s Crucifixion in March of this year, the choir were delighted to reunite with our friends from St Canice’s, where we received a warm welcome from the choir, from Dr Meehan and from the Very Reverend Stephen Farrell, Dean of Ossory.
We were treated to a barbecue following the Evensong service, where we spent the evening singing together, enjoying the beautiful June weather and rounding out the 2023-2024 choir year in earnest. We look forward to many more successful collaborations in the future! Aodh Quigley