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.
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