Couperin’s Leçon’s de Ténèbres
***CONCERT RESCHEDULED***
Our concert has been rescheduled for Saturday 18th May at 7.30pm. Those who bought tickets for the original performance can use them to gain admittance on 18th. If you bought a ticket and now cannot attend on 18th, your ticket will be refunded.
An evening of early music at St. Andrew’s centered around Couperin’s Leçon’s de Ténèbres and including performances by The Balligan Consort and Heather McIvor (Recorder). Couperin’s setting of the Leçons (‘Lessons of Darkness’) is an exquisite example from the French Baroque genre of setting the Lamentations for the Tenebrae services of Holy Week. These services see the liturgies of Matins and Lauds combined for the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The ‘darkness’ refers to the liturgical practice of extinguishing a set of 15 candles during the service until there is no light left save for a small candle (representing Christ’s resurrection) that has been ceremonially hidden behind the altar. Couperin composed a set of Leçons for each of the Tenebrae services, but unfortunately only those for the evening of Holy Wednesday have survived. This setting is scored for two sopranos, and will be performed by Rachel Thompson, Nuala Murray and Geoffrey Higgins (Harpsichord). Tickets (£7) can be purchased at any of the upcoming services at St. Andrews or at the door on the evening of the concert.
Starlight Gala Ball
On Friday 7th December the choir helped to welcome guests at the Starlight Gala Ball with festive music and Christmas Carols. The event, hosted in aid of the Northern Ireland Hospice, was held at the Harbour Commissioner’s Office in Belfast.
St. Gall of Bangor
St. Gall’s Church Bangor celebrated the life of its 6th-century Saint in October 2012, and the choir participated in a concert exploring ancient church music and its links with modern worship. See here for further details.
Lincoln Cathedral 16th-19th August 2012
The choir jetted off to the East Midlands to sing daily services in the beautiful Lincoln Cathedral. The trip coincided with the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Cathedral’s Patron Saint) and the Cathedral’s remarkable flower festival. At Evensong on Friday 17th the choir sang the anthem The Queen Shall Rejoice by William Turner (1651-1740), one-time chorister at the Cathedral. On 18th and 19th the choir’s music took on a Marian theme for the Cathedral’s celebrations, and included Hans Leo Hassler’s Missa Super Dixit Maria at Eucharist and Eleanor Daley’s Ave Maris Stella at Solemn Evensong. See below for full details of the choir’s music list (external link to the Cathedral website) and a gallery of images from the trip.
Lincoln Cathedral Music List 12-25 August 2012
