Monday, June 1, 2009

Choral Evensong

In 2001 and again in 2005, I had the privilege of singing in Great Britain with the Chancel Choir of Third Presbyterian Church. In 2001 we served as choir-in-residence at Rochester Cathedral in Kent, England. When we returned to England in 2005 we served as choir-in-residence at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. It was an awesome experience to make music in these beautiful and historic places of worship. We sang daily evensong in cathedrals where these services have been sung for a millennium.

This Sunday afternoon, the Chancel Choir will share this experience with the community, when we sing a Service of Choral Evensong at 4:00 p.m. The service music will include Richard Shephard’s Preces and Responses, O Taste and See by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G, and Faire is the Heaven by William H. Harris. The service of Evensong will be followed by a traditional English tea, featuring cucumber sandwiches, scones, cookies and, of course, real English tea.

It’s an ecumenical and cultural event, open to the public. If you’ve never experienced evensong, I highly recommend coming to Third Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon. The church is located on East Avenue at Meigs Street in Rochester, and here is a link to a map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=East+Avenue+at+Meigs+Street,+Rochester,+NY&ie=UTF8&ll=43.155465,-77.590749&spn=0.00706,0.013819&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A

I hope to see you there!