Sent to (sing at) Coventry

17 October 2015

Today, around sixty members of the choir visited Coventry Cathedral to sing Choral Evensong.

This is the first of two Cathedral visits this month (and indeed our first visit to Coventry Cathedral), and on Monday 26 October the visit will be our second to St Paul's Cathedral in London. At both Cathedrals the choir sing Responses by Ayleward, Canticles in B flat major by Henry Smart, and the anthem Exultate Deo by Samuel Wesley, as well as the Psalms appointed for the day. In addition at Coventry the choir performed a spine-tingling eight-part unaccompanied Introït by our Musical Director, setting words from Luke's Gospel (our service was on the Eve of St Luke's Day): Pax huic domui. Et omnibus habitantibus in ea. Alleluia. Grateful thanks are offered to Lee for all his hard work in preparing the choir, to Mark and David for the practical arrangements, to Ivan for accompanying us so beautifully, and to our gracious hosts at Coventry.

Like Sardines in the Rehearsal Room

These services for part of our ongoing series of "Sacred Spaces" performances, where we sing at church services to enable us to perform in the great sacred spaces of Europe: in the past few years we have sung at the Basilica of St Peter's Rome, the Cathédrale Notre Dame in Paris, Gloucester and St Paul's Cathedral, and now Coventry Cathedral, too.

Sutherland at St Matthew's

NBC at Coventry Cathedral 2015

Coventry has a particular link with our regular concert venue, St Matthew's Church in Northampton, where there is a fine painting of the Crucifixion by Graham Sutherland OM (see photo), who also designed the enormous "Christ in glory" tapestry which dominates Coventry Cathedral.