Cathedral Visits
In Sacred Spaces
 
For nearly a decade now members of the choir have been making regular visits to sing Choral Evensong in some of England’s finest Cathedrals. Our "Sacred Spaces" visits, as they are known, began in 2011 with a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral which, due to St Paul’s being closed less than 36 hours before our planned visit because of the "Occupy London" protests, became a visit to Gloucester Cathedral! Since then we have visited St Paul’s on more than one occasion, as well as Coventry, Lichfield, Winchester, and Worcester Cathedrals, St George’s Chapel, Windsor, Westminster Abbey, and most recently, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

Our 2020 visits to Lincoln Cathedral and Southwell Minster were cancelled because of the pandemic, and we have visits planned in 2022 to Peterborough and St Albans Cathedrals, and in 2023 we have dates booked at St Paul’s and Salisbury Cathedrals. Despite generally being vast, almost all of the Cathedrals have a limitation on the size of the choir their stalls can accommodate, and so rather than the full 130 singers, visits usually involve between 40 and 60 singers, with those who are disappointed by not being able to take part in one visit being given first refusal on the next one.

Unlike our normal concert repertoire, which rarely repeats in any ten-year period, we revel in repetition at these visits, and we try to sing works which aren’t regularly sung by the “home team” choir at the cathedral. The Responses are usually sung to a setting by our Musical Director, Lee Dunleavy, commissioned for the Peterborough Diocesan Choral Festival, and the canticles to the setting in B flat major by Henry Smart. The psalmody and anthem varies for each visit, depending on the church’s calendar. It is a privilege and an honour to be able to sing in these sacred spaces, and we offer thanks to the cathedrals for making it possible.

St Paul’s Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Monday 22 May 2023
Southwark Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Saturday 3 June 2023
   
Peterborough Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Saturday 29 May 2022
St Albans Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Saturday 30 July 2022
   
Christ Church Oxford
Choral Evensong
Monday 6 January 2020
Winchester Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Wednesday 29 May 2019
Westminster Abbey
Choral Evensong
Tuesday 30 July 2019
St George’s Chapel, Windsor
Choral Evensong
Wednesday 11 April 2018
Worcester Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Monday 9 July 2018
 
Coventry
Cathedral

Choral Evensong
Saturday 17 October 2015
 
Gloucester
Cathedral

Choral Evensong
Monday 24 October 2011
St Paul’s
Cathedral
Choral Evensong
Monday 29 October 2012

Image: St Paul’s Cathedral (Choral Evensong - Monday 22 May 2023), Wikipedia User - Helloworld314 - CC BY-SA 4.0