Music @ St Paul's Blog moving to Music @ St Paul's FaceBook page...

We have decided, after much thought, to move our internet presence from this Blog to our Music @ St Paul's FaceBook page.

The main reason is to keep the media in one place rather than having to duplicate them every time a posting is made.

If you would like to contact the cathedral's Director of Music, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, please send an email to DoM@stpaulscathedral.on.ca.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - April 16 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

In a change to the published recital schedule, Director of Music & Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, returns this Tuesday with a programme of popular music.

The Suite du premier ton by Denis Bédard starts the programme and that is followed by the much-loved Master Tallis' Testament by Herbert Howells.

To round off the recital in stirring form, Andrew will finish with the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by J.S. Bach.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - April 9 - Joel Vander Zee

Join organist and organbuilder, Joel Vander Zee, for the next recital in this year's series.

Joel will be playing a wide range of popular repertoire - Mathias, Howells, Lübeck, Lang, Schrõder and Rutter.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - April 2 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join Director of Music & Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for this first recital of the Easter Season!

It will feature music by Pierné, Fauré (from the Dolly Suite), Bach arr. Fox, Oskar and Nils Lindberg and Félix Borowski.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

The Easter Triduum reaches its climax with the Great Easter Vigil - March 30th - 8:00 pm

... Light shines in the darkness, proclaiming 'His Resurrection will mark the way'.

Having remembered Jesus' Passion and Death on Good Friday, the Church moves into a period of watching and waiting at the tomb.

Saturday remains empty in anticipation of the Great Vigil of the Resurrection at 8:00pm.

Fire is lit and the Paschal Candle is prepared and processed - "The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God!"; we hear the story of our history and redemption with the singing of the Exsultet and the readings and psalms of the Hebrew Scriptures, the organ sounds, lights are lit and "Glory be to God!" and "Alleluia!" are heard for the first time since Ash Wednesday.

Do come and celebrate with the Cathedral Congregation and Choir - who will sing John Taverner's great Easter motet, Dum transisset Sabbatum, telling of Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bringing spices, that they might anoint Jesus only to find themselves the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the Resurrection.

Come and proclaim with us:

Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Tá Críost éirithe! Go deimhin, tá sé éirithe!

Christos Anesti! Aleithos Anesti!

The Easter Triduum continues with the Good Friday Liturgy - March 29th

As the altar lies bare, we remember Christ's Passion and Death with the Good Friday Liturgy at 12 noon.

The Cathedral Choir will sing the plainsong setting of Ps 22, The Reproaches by Richard Lloyd and the motet O Vos Omnes by Pablo Casals.

We hope you will join us as we continue through the sacred Three Days.

The Easter Triduum - Maundy Thursday - March 28

Join us tomorrow evening at 7.30pm as we enter the three days of the sacred Easter Triduum with the Maundy Thursday evening liturgy - Holy Eucharist with the Washing of Feet and Stripping of the Altar.

Some stunning music including Gregorio Allegri's setting of Psalm 51, Miserere and a setting of Pange Lingua by Greg Heislman of St John's Cathedral, Cleveland.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - March 26 - Paul Merritt

This Tuesday, Paul Merritt, Director of Music at First-St Andrew's United Church, is joined by Alexia Hlynialuk, violin, and Fiona Robson, Cello.

Music by Bach will begin and end the recital and in between the trio will play three of the Sechs Stücke, Op.150 for violin and organ and the first movement of the Suite, Op.149 for organ trio by Joseph Rheinberger.

A beautiful programme for Holy Week.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

A Sequence of Music and Readings for Passiontide - March 24 - 4:00 p.m.

St Paul's Cathedral Choir presents A Sequence of Music and Readings for Passiontide in the stunning acoustic of Cronyn Hall at 4:00 p.m. on Palm Sunday, March 24th.

The sequence starts and ends with Thomas Tallis' beautiful and haunting setting of The Lamentations of Jeremiah. Other music includes Purcell, Blow, Casals, Lotti, Chilcott, and Stainer.

The music will be set around the biblical texts of the Passion and secular texts including poetry by George Herbert, John Donne, and Oscar Wilde.

There is no admission charge.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - March 19 - Daniel Norman

Daniel Norman, from St Anne's Church in Toronto, returns to the recital series with music by Alain, de Grigny, Bach and van Noordt.

Dan will play two of the Trois Pièces by Jehan Alain - Le jardin suspendu and Litanies and will finish his recital with Bach's Toccata in F.

All are welcome and admission to London's oldest church is, as always, free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - March 12 - Stephanie Burgoyne with William Vandertuin

This week in London's only organ recital series, Stephanie and William return for a recital of works by Becker, Bédard and Rheinberger.

The Bédard Variations sur un Thème original is written for organ four-hands.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free and we look forward to welcoming you to this beautiful and historic building.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - March 5 - Thomas Gonder

This week, Thomas Gonder returns to St Paul's to play music by Jean Langlais, Jean-Jacques Grunenwald and Naji Hakim's setting of the Pange Lingua.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

We look forward to seeing you!

Three Cathedrals Choral Festival Tickets go on sale at midnight!

Three Cathedrals Choral Festival Tickets go on sale at midnight!

Please visit the Ticket page of the Festival website (www.threecathedralsfestival.ca) to purchase tickets with your credit card through PayPal.

Our Ticket line will also be open - the Festival Box Office number is 1-226-224-1401.

Station Park All Suites Hotel and the Hilton London Hotel are offering special Festival rates for Patrons of the Festival - please see details on the Supporters page.

The three choirs look forward to seeing you in May!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - February 26 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell and The Glass Quintet

Join Director of Music & Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, who will be joined by The Glass Quintet - brass students from the Don Wright Faculty of Music - for an organ and brass recital.

The recital will include Sonata No.5 in C minor by Alexandre Guilmant in a new arrangement of for organ and brass quintet. Also featured will be the Brass Quintet by Victor Ewald.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is always free and this is a recital you won't want to miss!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - February 19 - William Lupton

Join organist William Lupton (Huron University College and St Martin-in-the-Fields) for Tuesday's Noon Hour organ recital.

William will play music by Lang, Bach, Mendelssohn, Dupré and Howells.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

We look forward to seeing you there!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - February 12 - Michael Bloss

Michael Bloss, Director of Music at Christ's Church Cathedral, Hamilton, makes a return to the series this time with a rare performance of Healey Willan's IPF! [That's Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue...]

Michael's recital will also include the Hindemith Sonata No.1.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

We look forward to seeing you at the recital.

Three Cathedrals Choral Festival 2013 - Website now live!

The Three Cathedrals Choral Festival 2013 website went live at midnight!

www.threecathedralsfestival.ca

Do visit our website and set aside the dates, May 3rd to 5th, for a weekend of music, art, culture and tradition featuring three cathedral choirs - from Buffalo, Detroit and London!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - February 5 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for A Smart Bach Scale!

Works in the recital of the music of J.S. Bach and Henry Smart will include the Three Andantes by Smart and the Fugue on a Theme of Corelli by Bach.

Other works by Bach will complete the scale!

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

We look forward to seeing you there!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - January 29 - Angus Sinclair, O.H.

St Paul's Affiliate Organist, Angus Sinclair O.H., brings us a full recital of transcriptions!

Amongst the composers featured will be Handel, Shostakovich, Mozart, Bach, Vaughan Williams and Elgar.

You won't want to miss this very special recital!

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free and we hope you'll spend some of your lunch hour with us this week.

From the desk of the Director of Music - The Cathedral Chimes Article - Lent/Easter 2013

As I write, the cathedral musicians are enjoying the slightly less hectic music schedule between the very busy Advent and Christmas season and their preparations for the equally busy Lent, Holy Week and Easter season.

Personally, I would like to thank the choir for the energy and commitment with which they undertook the very many extra hours to lead the worship at St Paul’s - this was one of the tiring years in the cycle with two services falling on the Sunday of Advent 4, followed immediately by two services late into Christmas Eve and yet another on Christmas morning (with minimal sleep opportunity in between). Of course, they undertake their role with dedication and good humour, but our thanks are due to them nonetheless.

In the middle of this welcome pause comes our Patronal Festival weekend at the end of January which we will celebrate with a full choral Eucharist (Herbert Howells Communion Service Collegium Regale for King’s College, Cambridge) on the morning of Sunday, January 27th and Diocesan Choral Evensong, with guest preacher The Reverend Kate Hathaway, at 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon of that Sunday (Stanford Canticles in A, Edward Bairstow Blessed City, Heavenly Salem - two of the pillars of cathedral choral music).

We are delighted, at the Patronal Evensong, to be presenting the première of a choral setting of the Lord’s Prayer, composed for our choir late in 2012 by H. Barrie Cabena and designed to go with the setting of the Preces and Responses that he wrote for Angus Sinclair and the Cathedral Choir in 1997. Looking forward, the choir is hard at work preparing for the Music and Readings for Passiontide on the afternoon of Sunday, March 24th at 4:00 p.m. which will take place again in the wonderful acoustic of Cronyn Hall and will feature parishioners reading selected texts to go with the music.

Beyond that we have the very exciting Three Cathedrals Choral Festival (threecathedralsfestival.ca) at the beginning of May (Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th) - and I’d like to thank the choir in advance for the considerable work involved in this major new project and outreach opportunity from the cathedral, and also the dedicated Steering Committee that is helping me put this event together. We very much hope that the cathedral community will come out to support this addition to London’s cultural, arts and tourism calendar.

And, just as we take breath after the Festival, the choir will be hard at work again, preparing for the two week residencies at Chichester and Winchester Cathedrals from August 16th to September 2nd. We are delighted that following on the wonderful relationship that been developing over the last year or so between our choir and the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, the two cathedral choirs will be travelling to England together and spending these two weeks of residency singing, socialising and exploring the local areas – Stonehenge is, of course, the major tourist attraction in the area.

In addition to all these major musical performances, we continue apace with our valued diocesan work and will be singing evensong in another five parishes (as far apart as Owen Sound and Oldcastle) between the end of February and the middle of June. We have also already been asked to visit three parishes early in the 2013-2014 academic year, so this outreach ministry is clearly welcomed by our diocesan family and has the full support of Bishop Bob - a number of parishes we have already visited over the last three years have asked us to return for a second evensong, so the schedule is already filling up for next year.

Of course, these are all additional events which have been added to the choir’s main role and mission, which is to support, lead and enhance the worship of the community here at St Paul’s. Without this weekly round of liturgy within the cathedral community, the choir would not be able to undertake all these outreach projects and I’m sure the choir will not hesitate to join me in thanking you all for your constant support and encouragement as we travel the pilgrim road together.

January 2013

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - January 22 - Janet Heerema

This week, the Director of Music at Trivitt Memorial Church, Exeter - Janet Heerema - joins us with a recital we're sure will appeal to you.

Janet's programme includes some Christmas selections, including Wilbur Held's Nativity Suite, and a selection of hymn-tune-based works - a processional, a prelude and a toccata.

Altogether a great American programme!

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free. We hope to see you there!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - January 15th - Christiaan Teeuwsen

This week, in London's Organ Recital Series, Christiaan Teeuwsen, Professor of Music at Redeemer University College and Director of Music at MacNab Street Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, will present a recital of European Baroque works.

In addition to Bach and Buxtehude, the recital will feature music by Anthoni van Noordt, Georg Dietrich Leyding and Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer.

Admission to the recital in London's Oldest Church, is, as always, free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - January 8 - Joel Vander Zee

Joel starts off London's only regular organ recital series for 2013 with a programme that includes Henry Smart, Flor Peeters, Samuel Barber and Felix Mendelssohn.

Of particular interest may be the Dubois-esque Toccata in D minor by American composer, Gordon Balch Nevin.

As always, admission to the recital in London's Oldest Church is free.

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols - December 23rd @ 4:00pm

Join the community at St Paul's Cathedral as we being the celebration of Christmas with the traditional Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December 23rd at 4:00 pm.

The cathedral choir will sing carol settings by William Whitehead, Matthew Owens, Francis Pott, the late Sir Philip Ledger, Morten Lauridsen, June Nixon and Ely Cathedral organist, Paul Trepte.

The congregation joins the choir in five Christmas hymns and the Nine Lessons conclude with the inspiring Prologue to the Gospel of John, which unfolds the mystery of the Incarnation, read by the Bishop of Huron, The Right Reverend Robert F. Bennett.

The service will be followed by a Festive Reception.

We look forward to seeing you!

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - December 18 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell with Kathleen Gahagan and Eliza Lam, harps

Join Cathedral Director of Music and Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, and Kathleen Gahagan (harp) for their traditional pre-Christmas recital.

On this occasion they will also be joined by Eliza Lam, one of Kathleen's students.

This is a great way to prepare for Christmas with some music in a more light-hearted vein.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - December 11 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join St Paul's Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for a selection of music for Advent by Bach.

In addition to the seasonal chorale preludes, Andrew will also play Three Impromptus by the English Composer, Samuel Coleridge Taylor.

Come and spend some time in London's oldest church, while enjoying the sounds of its wonderful Casavant organ.

Admission, as always, is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - December 4 - Simon Walker

Join Simon Walker, Director of Music at St Jude's Anglican Church, Oakville, Ontario, for a performance of César Franck's Grande pièce symphonique, Op.17.

Written between 1860 and 1862, this is the piece on which Vierne, Widor, Guilmant, and many of their successors, built their symphonic organ repertoire.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

Advent Lessons and Carols - Sunday, December 2 @ 4.00pm

or, more correctly, Procession with Carols and Lessons for Advent.

Join us this Sunday afternoon as we begin our Advent Season with this service of music and readings.

A highlight will be a performance of a new setting of Ave Virgo Sanctissima by English composer, Judith Bingham - a modern choral gem that is sure to find its way into the canonic repertoire of the Advent.

Other music is by Guerrero, Parry, Lloyd and Carter and the final reading, from the Gospel of Mark, will be proclaimed by The Right Reverend Robert F. Bennett, Bishop of Huron.

The O Antiphons will be intoned by the Canon Precentor, William G. Cliff.

There is no better way to enter into this preparatory season than in quiet reflection and joyful song in the beautiful contemplative surroundings of London's Oldest Church.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - November 27 - Angus Sinclair

Join the Cathedral's Affiliate Organist, Angus Sinclair, for a recital of Bach, Buxtehude, Kittel and Karg-Elert.

Angus will play Bach's Trio Sonata in C major, BWV 529 and finish his recital with two Karg-Elert pieces - one from Cathedral Windows and the other from the Op.101 Chorale Preludes.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free. We look forward to seeing you there.

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Save the Date!

Save the Date!

From Friday, May 3rd to Sunday, May 5th 2013, St Paul’s will host the first Three Cathedrals Choral Festival celebrating the power and beauty of our Cathedral tradition in a glorious weekend of choral music, art, food and festivities.

The weekend will include Choral Evensong sung by the choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo and St Paul’s Cathedral, London on Friday evening; a Festival Choral Concert sung by the choirs of three cathedrals named in honour of St Paul – Buffalo, Detroit and London, on Saturday evening; and a Festival Choral Eucharist and Evensong sung by all three cathedral choirs on Sunday.

There will also be St Paul’s Friday Pub Night, called Jazz and Giles, when we’ll be able to relax and enjoy the story-telling of Dr. Giles Bryant, wit, raconteur, one-time assistant to and successor of Healey Willan and Organist and Master of the Choristers at St James’ Cathedral, Toronto from 1979-1999. If you have never heard Giles tell one of his true-life stories (and he has hundreds of them) you’re in for a treat!

More details will be provided in the New Year, but mark your calendars for May 3-5, 2013 – this is one weekend you won’t want to miss!

Advent & Christmas @ St Paul's

As we come to celebrate the Feast of the Reign of Christ, our minds turn towards the seasons of Advent and Christmas. The two musical set pieces at this time of year are, as always, the Procession with Carols and Lessons for Advent (Sunday, December 2nd at 4.00pm) and the traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols (Sunday, December 23rd at 4.00pm).

One of the major historical roles of cathedrals around the world has been the support, encouragement and promotion of the arts. In its own small way, St Paul’s Cathedral carries on this traditional role throughout the year, but, at least where music is concerned, most evidently during Advent and Christmas.

The Procession with Carols and Lessons for Advent on December 2nd will present some newly written music as well as settings of the familiar traditional texts such as The Angel Gabriel. We will, as always, sing the Advent Prose in candlelit procession and the service will begin with a Responsory composed for the Cathedral Choir and will end with a Vesper Responsory written by David Briggs (sometime Organist of Gloucester Cathedral and currently Artist in Residence/Director of Music at St James’ Cathedral, Toronto) for the Church of St Thomas, Fifth Avenue (and Director of Music, John Scott, formerly of the “other” St Paul’s Cathedral).

The major new work in the service will be a setting of Ave virgo sanctissima (Hail, most holy Virgin) by English composer Judith Bingham, which received its American première in January this year – Judith tells us that this will be its Canadian première performance, but, given the number of choirs in the country, we are not making that claim (at least in public!).

On December 23rd we will sing the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, starting, as has been traditional since 1918 in King’s College, Cambridge, with the soprano soloist in Once in Royal David’s City. Again, this service presents an entirely new selection of carols, apart from one item, with some delightful twists on the old musical themes and texts. The major work in the service is the hauntingly beautiful setting of O Magnum Mysterium (O great mystery and wondrous sacrament) by Morten Lauridsen, one of the top American choral composers of his generation.

We will be joined at both services by our Bishop, The Right Reverend Robert F. Bennett, who will in each case read the final lesson and give the blessing.

As usual, the music for both of the two Christmas Eve services (at 7.30pm and 11.00pm) will be crowned by the participation of our friends in the brass group, led by Dave Robertson, and on Christmas Day, the Men of the Cathedral Choir will sing the Gregorian chant Missa de Angelis to accompany the BCP Eucharist at 10.00am.

We hope you’ll put these dates in your calendars and look forward to seeing you as we celebrate Advent and Christmas.

London's Organ Recital Series - Tuesday, November 13 - Wayne Carroll

Join us for Tuesday's recital, when Dr. Wayne Carroll of Knox Presbyterian Church, St Thomas, will play Alexandre Guilmant's Sonata No. 3, Denis Bédard's Andantino and the Suite gothique by Léon Boellmann.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - November 6th - David Greenslade

Join us on Tuesday for a recital by David Greenslade, Director of Music at Church of the Epiphany in Woodstock.

David will be playing music by Mendelssohn, Buxtehude, Bach and Vierne. He will also introduce us to the organ music of English composer, Michael Cowgill - his Paean will end the programme.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is free as always. It's a great way to relax over the lunch hour - we hope to see you there.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - October 30 - William Lupton

Join William Lupton, Director of Music at the Chapel of St John the Evangelist, Huron University College and St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London, for this Tuesday's recital in London's Organ Recital Series.

William will present music by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, J.S. Bach, John Stanley, Alfred Hollins, Felix Mendelssohn and Percy Whitlock.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free.

London's Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - October 23 - J. Nixon McMillan

Join the Very Rev'd Dr J. Nixon McMillan, Rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church, Albany NY, for a recital of the music of César Franck.

Nixon plays the Andantino and the Trois Pièces, which finish with the Pièce Héroïque.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - October 16th - Michael Bloss

Join us as Michael Bloss, Director of Music at Christ's Church Cathedral, Hamilton, plays the monumental Fantasy and Fugue on Ad nos, ad salutarem undam (To us, to the saving waters) by Franz Liszt.

Admission to London's oldest church is, as always, free.

London's Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - October 9th - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join St Paul's Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for a recital of English organ music.

The programme starts with a Voluntary from the Op 5 set by John Stanley and includes works by Hollins, How and Smart.

Admission to London's Noon Hour Organ Recital is free as always. Come and enjoy beautiful music in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - October 2nd - David Troiano

David Troiano comes to us from Grosse Point Park, MI with a recital of American and European works.

David will play music by American composers Arthur Foote and Charles Callaghan and by Jose Torrellas, Michael Higgins, Mieczyslaw Surzynski and J.S. Bach (B minor Fugue, BWV 579).

Join us for London's only recital series, held in the beautiful acoustics and ambience of London's oldest church.

Admission, as always, is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - September 25th - Stephanie Burgoyne & WIlliam Vandertuin

Stephanie and William return to the series with music by Bédard, Bach, Yon and Borowski.

They will join for an organ-four-hands performance of the Bach Concerto for Two Violins and Stephanie will end the recital with the Finale from Borowski's Sonata for Organ - a work that deserves better notice than it has had in the past.

Come and join us in London's oldest and most historic church.

Admission, as always, is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - September 18th - Julian Bewig, Emsdetten, Germany

Julian Bewig makes a welcome return to the series from the St Marienkirche, Emsdetten, Germany.

His recital opens with a movement from the Bach-Vivaldi Concerto No. 2 and he will also play Mozart's F minor Fantasia. The recital concludes with Max Reger's monumental Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H.

Come and enjoy this wonderful music in the acoustic and ambience of London's oldest church.

Admission, as always, is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - September 4th - Angus Sinclair

Angus Sinclair OH, Affiliate Organist at St Paul's Cathedral, kicks off the season's recital series with a programme of Purcell, Walond, Stanford, Rawsthorne and, one-time St Paul's Cathedral Organist, John Cook.

Come and join us for London's only organ recital series and enjoy the beauty and peace of London's oldest church.

Admission is free and the recital, as always, runs from 12:15pm for 30 minutes.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - July 31 - Jennifer Goodine

Join Burlington organist, Jennifer Goodine, for the last recital before London's Organ Recital Series takes a break for the month of August.

Jennifer will play a Baroque programme of Bach, Froberger and Pachelbel. She will also play Couperin's Messe des Paroisses.

Admission to London's oldest church is free, and tours of the cathedral are available after the recital.

The next recital will be on September 4th, when Affiliate Organist, Angus Sinclair, will be playing.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - July 24th - Peter Barley

Come and support Peter's first recital in London's only organ recital series!

Peter, an ex-organ scholar of King's College, Cambridge and until recently, Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin will perform Franck's A minor Chorale, Duruflé Veni Creator variations and Bach.

Peter will also introduce us to the music of Irish composer Eric Sweeney, and to the work of David Liddle, the blind English organist and composer.

As always, admission is free to London's beautiful oldest church.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - July 17 - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join cathedral Director of Music and Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, as we come towards the end of this year's recital season - just two more recitals after this week, before we take a well-earned break for the month of August.

This week, Andrew will introduce the audience to the Swedish organist and composer, Oskar Lindberg - a Romantic composer with a bit of a Scandinavian twist!

Other composers included in the recital are Denis Bédard, Hendrik Andriessen, Flor Peeters and Louis James Alfred Lefébure--Wély.

As always, admission is free to London's oldest church.

London's Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - July 10th - Richard Newman

Richard Newman - Associate Organist at St Paul's Cathedral, Detroit, MI - joins us in the recital series for the first time.

Richard's repertoire includes Lübeck (E major), Langlais (Frescobaldi variations), Bach (A major), Bridge (Adagio) and Canadian composer, Gerald Bales (Petite Suite).

Come and join the audience of London's Noon Hour Organ Recital Series in welcoming Richard to London for the first time.

Admission, as always, is free to London's oldest church.

London's Annual Canada Day Organ Recital!

It's time for London's Annual Canada Day Organ Recital at St Paul's Cathedral!

On MONDAY, JULY 2nd, come and join Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, together with harpist, Kathleen Gahagan, for a Last Night of the Proms-style recital - complete with audience participation!

Admission is free and baskets will be available for free-will donations to offset the cost of the annual recital series.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - July 3rd - Daniel Norman

Daniel Norman makes a trip back to London for the next recital in London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series.

In addition to Sonata Op.65, No.1 by Mendelssohn, Daniel will introduce works by van Noordt (Ps 24) and Cabezon (Diferencia sobre el canto llano del caballero) together with Sweelinck's variations on Mein junges leben hat ein end.

Come and enjoy this recital in the beautiful setting of London's oldest church.

Admission is free.

Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - June 26th - Stephanie Burgoyne with William Vandertuin

Stephanie Burgoyne and William Vandertuin return to London's Organ Recital Series with another selection of music including their specialty, organ-four-hands.

Stephanie will play from Pietro Yon's Sonata No. 3 (Romantica) and the Finale from Widor's Symphonie No.2.

With William she will play the Petite Suite (pour orgue quatre mains) by Denis Bédard.

Come and enjoy the recital in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church.

Admission, as always, is free.

Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - June 19th - Jeremy David Tarrant

Join the Organist of one of our sister cathedrals (Detroit), Jeremy David Tarrant, as he makes a welcome return from St Paul's to St Paul's.

Jeremy will play Bach, Mendelssohn, Scarlatti (Domenico) and finish his programme with a selection from the Pièces de Fantaisie by Louis Vierne.

Admission, as always, is free.

Come and enjoy London's Organ Recital in London's oldest church.

Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - June 12th - Aaron James

This week we welcome Aaron James back from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Aaron's recital will present the Three Rhapsodies, Op.17 by Herbert Howells and the Prelude and Fugue in C minor by Vaughan Williams.

Come and join the audience of London's Organ Recital Series and relax in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church.

Admission, as always, is free.

London's Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital Series - June 5th at 12:15 p.m. - Andrew Keegan Mackriell

Join St Paul's Cathedral Director of Music & Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for next Tuesday's organ recital in London's Organ Recital Series at St Paul's Cathedral.

Music by Samuel Wesley and Dietrich Buxtehude will frame a group of pieces orginally written for mechanical organ and clock by Cherubini and Handel.

Admission to London's Oldest Church is, as always, free. Bring your lunch and enjoy some time apart from the busyness of the world.

Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - May 29th - Michael Bloss

Michael Bloss makes a welcome return to the recital series this coming Tuesday.

This week's recital will include Buxtehude and Bach. The featured work will be L'Ascension by Olivier Messiaen .

As always, admission to London's Organ Recital Series is free and takes place in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church.

Tuesday Noon hour Organ Recital - May 22nd - Angus Sinclair

Join St Paul's Cathedral Affiliate Organist and musician extraordinaire, Angus Sinclair, for a recital of popular organ music.

This week, Angus will play music by Mouret, Bach, Fiocco, Mozart, Finzi, Rawsthorne, Hancock and Sousa.

The Sousa March will certainly end this recital on the right high note!

Admission as always, to this recital in London's oldest church, is free.

Tuesday Noon Hour Organ Recital - May 15th - Mary Lou Nowicki

Join Dr Mary Lou Nowicki, organist at St John' Episcopal Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, this coming Tuesday as she presents her first recital in the St Paul's series.

Mary Lou's programme includes the music of Nicolaus Bruhns, J.S. Bach and Max Reger.

Of particular interest will be the Four Fugues for Organ (from Douze Courtes Pièces) by Canadian composer and organist, Rachel Laurin.

Admission, as always, is free.

We look forward to seeing you here at St Paul's, London's oldest church.

Picture © 2012, John Sproule

Tuesday Noon hour Organ Recital - May 8th - Marlin Nagtegaal

Join Marlin Nagtegaal, Organist and Director of Music at St John the Evangelist Church, Kitchener, for his recital at 12.15pm tomorrow.

Marlin will be playing music by H. Barrie Cabena, Johann Ludwig Krebs and Felix Mendelssohn.

Of particular interest to lovers of Canadian organ music will be the selection from Five Fancies for Fleet Feet by Cabena.

Admission, as always, is free.

St Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo @ St Paul's Cathedral, London, ONn

St Paul's Cathedral London is excited to have the choir of St Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo with us this weekend.

Music by Byrd, Tomkins, Willan, Leighton and Wood at the two services tomorrow.

A great musical weekend in store!

Join us at 10am and 5pm for a musical extravaganze in preparation for the Three Cathedrals Festival, May 3-5 2013.

Tuesday Noonhour Organ Recital - May 1st 2012 - Dr John Vandertuin

Join Brantford organist, Dr John Vandertuin, as he returns to St Paul's with a recital of French music.

The programme will feature the Suite Orbis Factor by Canadian organist, composer and teacher, Conrad Letendre; Supplication by Jean Langlais, which was written by Langlais for John in 1972; Final from 1e Symphonie by Louis Vierne.

As always, admission is free.

Tuesday Noonhour Organ Recital - April 24th at 12.15pm - Brent Fifield

On Tuesday, organist Brent Fifield will present a programme of English and North American music.

Howells and Preston are the English offerings and from North America there will be music by Gilbert Martin, Gordon Young, David N. Johnson.

Also included will be Laudate Dominum: Ruminations by John S. McIntosh. Dr McIntosh was Head of the MusicTheory department and later Chair of the Applied Music department at UWO. He was also organist and choirmaster at St James Westminster Anglican Church in London, ON.

Admission is free and the recital starts at 12:15 p.m.

The Paschal Triduum - 3 Days, 1 Journey

Please join the community of St Paul's Cathedral and the clergy and choir for the annual celebration of The Paschal Triduum - 3 Days, 1 Journey.

Starting with the Maundy Thursday Eucharist, the Good Friday Celebration of the Lord's Passion and culminating with The Great Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday, this is liturgy at its finest.

Music over the Three Days includes: Charles Wood Communion in the Phrygian Mode, Pange lingua by Greg Heislman, Ps 51 with Fauxbourdons by the cathedral's Director of Music, The Reproaches by John Sanders, Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti, The Exsultet in a setting by Christopher Walker, Psalm settings by Haas, Haugen and Soper, Eucharistic music by Jones and Joncas and the Easter motet, Dum transisset Sabbatum by John Taverner.

We look forward to welcoming you to St Paul's.

Sequence of Music & Readings for Passiontide

Sunday, April 1st 2012 at 4:00 p.m.

The Cathedral Choir will present a sequence of music and readings on the Passion on Palm Sunday at 4pm.

The readings will include biblical and non-biblical texts (John Donne, George Herbert, Oscar Wilde).

The music will include Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti, Salvator Mundi by John Blow, O vos omnes by Pablo Casals and music by Purcell, Stainer, Morales, Walton and Hewitt Jones.

The choir will present the Sequence in the beautiful acoustic of the cathedral's Cronyn Hall. We look forward to seeing you there as we commence our journey into Holy Week.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - March 27th 2012 - Daniel Norman, Toronto

Next Tuesday, March 27th, Daniel Norman from St Anne's Church in Toronto will join us for a recital of Buxtehude, Widor and the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Bach.

Spend some of your lunch hour in the relaxing atmosphere of London's oldest church.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - March 20th 2012 - Jeremy David Tarrant, St Paul's Cathedral, Detroit

This week we welcome Jeremy David Tarrant, Organist and Choirmaster of the Cathedral Church of St Paul, Detroit, Michigan.

Jeremy's repertoire for the recital includes the Prelude in B minor and Chorale Prelude on Schmücke Dich by Johann Sebastian Bach and the three-movement Suite pour Orgue by Jehan Alain.

Join us in London's oldest church for London's only ongoing organ recital series!

Admission is free.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - March 13th 2012 - Stephanie Burgoyne and William Vandertuin

This Tuesday, Stephanie Burgoyne (St Jude's Church, Brantford & St Paul's United Church, Paris) and William Vandertuin (St Jude's Church, Brantford) present a varied programme for two and four hands (and feet!).

The programme repertoire is Fantasia in D minor by Stanford, Pastorale from Sonata Op.13, No.2 by Widor, Handel Sonata in F major (Op.2) and Finale-Toccata from Becker's Third Sonata in E.

Join us in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church for another recital in the only year-round, ongoing recital series in the city!

Admission is free.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - March 6th 2012 - Thomas Gonder

This Tuesday, Thomas Gonder, of the Church of the Transfiguration in Toronto , makes a welcome return to the cathedral.

Tom will play a Marche Nuptiale (written by him for his sister's wedding), Improvisation VII by Saint-Saëns, Two Pieces for Organ by Canadian composer, Gerald Bales and Joseph Jongen's Sonata Eroica, Op. 94.

Admission as always is free.

Music for Lent and Easter @ St Paul's

Music for Lent and Easter

So here we are, approaching Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday of Lent. The forty-day fast that we now refer to as Lent was first observed at the turn of the fourth century in Egypt, although it’s focus at that time was more on the fast Jesus took in the wilderness after his baptism, than on a preparation for Easter. The forty-day Lenten preparation for Easter, as celebrated by Western Christians, appeared in Rome sometime between 354 and 384; its beginning was moved back to Ash Wednesday in the sixth century, in order to allow for forty full days of fasting (since the Sundays are officially non-fast days, or Sundays in Lent rather than of Lent). The forty days of Lent, as we now observe them, then run until the evening of Holy Thursday – at which point we start the three-day Easter Triduum.

The Easter Triduum – a single, unified, liturgy, comprising the Holy (“Maundy”) Thursday evening Eucharist (commemorating the Last Supper), the Good Friday Celebration of the Passion and the Great Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday night – is rooted in the liturgies of the Church of Jerusalem, which are beautifully (and in great detail) reported for us by the Gallic pilgrim, Egeria, who observed, in Jerusalem during her travels there in 381-384, the reliving of the gospel events in the locations in which they originally took place.

Given the nature of the whole season of Lent and the Easter Triduum – the climax of the entire Church Year – it is hardly surprising that is has produced some of the highest forms of both the visual and aural arts. Painters and composers alike have been moved to create works of astonishing depth and expression and it is from this musical repertoire that we draw our music for the season.

During Lent, the choir music each Sunday comes primarily from the English Reformation period (16th century) with composers such as Tallis and Byrd. The music in Holy Week – from Palm Sunday – includes composers such as Victoria and the Spanish Renaissance composer, Christobal Morales. The Easter Triduum will provide its usual varied menu of music, from the 16th century English composer, John Taverner, to a contemporary setting of the Pange Lingua text by Gregory Heislman, Director of Music at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist in Cleveland, OH.

The choir will, as in previous years, set the tone for Holy Week with the Sequence of Music and Readings for Passiontide on the afternoon of Palm Sunday, April 1st at 4.00 p.m. Using the unique ambience and acoustic of Cronyn Hall, the music will include God So Loved the World by Stainer, Hear My Prayer by Henry Purcell and Antonio Lotti’s famous Crucifixus. We will also hear readings from a variety of sources, both biblical and non-biblical. Do put this in your calendar and plan to join us.

On Easter Sunday morning, we will be joined by a brass quartet and the musical setting of the Eucharist will be the Missa Resurrectionis by Gerre Hancock – the famed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York who died in January of this year. Dr Hancock was one of America’s most highly acclaimed organists and choral directors and his loss will be felt profoundly by all involved in church music in North America and much further afield. On Easter morning, we will also sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah; music will be available for any congregation members who would like to sing along.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - February 21st at 12.15pm

Join William Lupton - organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London (ON) and Huron University College - for a programme of Bach, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn (Sonata in A major/minor), Dupré (Cortège et Litanie) and Parry (Chorale Prelude on Dundee).

The recital starts at 12.15pm and admission is free.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - February 14th 2012

This week, Simon Walker from the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Toronto, plays Bach's D minor Toccata and Fugue, Walton's Crown Imperial March and Thalben-Ball's Tune in E (in the style of John Stanley).

Come and relax over your lunch hour in the beautiful surroundings of London's oldest church.

Admission is free.

The Chancel at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Toronto:

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ + Harp Recital - February 7th 2012

Join harpist, Kathleen Gahagan and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for a recital of Spanish music.

Music will include a Tiento by Cabanilles and music by, Alfonso X "El Sabio", Alfredo Rolando Ortiz and Praetorius.

We will also continue our look at The Art of Fugue by J.S. Bach with Contrapunctus X

.

Admission, as always, is free.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - January 31st at 12.15pm

Join organist, Janet Hereema of Trivitt Memorial Church, Exeter, ON, for a recital of music by Karg-Elert, Wilbur Held, Lowell Mason and Don Wyrtzen.

Janet also conducts the Exeter-based South Huron Community Adult, Youth & Handbell Choirs.

St Paul's Cathedral Patronal Festival Weekend - January 29th, 2012

This coming Sunday marks the Patronal Festival at the Cathedral - the feast of The Conversion of St Paul (on the road to Damascus). The morning service starts with Bruckner's motet Locus Iste (a motet for the Feast of the Dedication) and we celebrate a Festive Eucharist with the music of English organist, David Briggs accompanied by guest organist, Michael Bloss.
 
On Sunday afternoon, we have another of our Diocesan Evensong services, at which the Cathedral Choir is joined by members of parish choirs in the locality. This is part of our diocesan musical outreach and allows these choir members to sing, in their cathedral, music which would not generally be sung in their home parishes. 
 
Another aspect of our diocesan musical outreach is the Cathedral Choir's Sunday afternoon trips to sing cathedral-style evensong in many of the parishes of the Diocese of Huron. Since 2009, the choir has sung in some eleven or twelve parishes each year. Apart from being a very good social outing for the choir, it has reconnected many parishes to the cathedral and enabled diocesan parishioners to experience the traditional Book of Common Prayer Office of Evensong - something that many have reported not having been able to attend in some twenty years or more.


All the activities of the music programme are published here on our Blog and our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/musicatstpauls).

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - Jan 24th - Angus Sinclair, OH

Join Angus Sinclair at 12.15pm on Tuesday, January 24th for a programme of organ arrangements including music by the "Big Three" of 1685 - Handel, Scarlatti and Bach.

Music includes arrangements from The Royal Fireworks Suite and The Water Music Suite in D, together with Bach's arrangement of the Vivaldi Concerto in F and the ‘Cat’ Fugue by Domenico Scarlatti.

Admission is free and the recital lasts 30 minutes.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital - January 17th at 12.15pm

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ recital - January 17th @ 12.15pm

Join St Paul's Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, for the next instalment of The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus IX.

Also on the programme, organ music by Carl Czerny and the Vitali Ciaccona with Nic Carlucci, violin.

Admission is free.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital Series - January 10th @ 12.15pm

This week our recitalist is Joel VanderZee - St John's-Kilmarnock School, Waterloo, ON.

The repertoire for the recital is entirely based around well-known hymn tunes with preludes by Hal Hopson, Vaughan Williams, Georg Boehm, Hermann Schroeder, Jean Langlais, John Ferguson and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.

Enjoy this free recital in the beautiful and relaxing surroundings of St Paul's Cathedral, the oldest church in London.

Ringing In The New Year...

In addition to our two remaining Diocesan Evensongs of this academic year – on Jan 29th and April 29th – the cathedral choir will be travelling to sing evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral, Detroit on Sunday, March 25th and will be hosting the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo on April 29th.

These latter two new collaborations with our nearest sister cathedral choirs, are in preparation for a “Three Choirs” event being planned for the Spring of 2013 that will see the three choirs come together, here in London, for a weekend of music, both sacred and secular. While it is still at the early stages of planning, this venture is beginning to look very exciting indeed. We’ll keep you posted as the plans develop.

The choir will, of course, also be leading music at the Diocesan Ordinations, a Deanery Confirmation and the Synod service, and will be travelling to sing Sunday evensong in another five parishes of our diocese, bringing our total of these parish visits to eleven for this year.

Finally, and to explain the article title above, the Ontario Guild of English Handbell Ringers has, very generously, just loaned us a 3-octave set of hand chimes, so we will shortly be contacting our Saturday morning group to see how we can incorporate this new layer of sound into our music programme. If you are interested in joining us, please contact the Director of Music at 519-434-3225.

Tuesday Noon-hour Organ Recital Series - January 3rd @ 12.15pm

Join us as we recommence our Noon-hour organ recital series this Tuesday, January 3rd.

The recitalist will be St Paul's Cathedral Director of Music & Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell.

The recital will include Contrapunctus VIII from The Art of Fugue by J.S. Bach, continuing The Art of Fugue series, and music by Flor Peeters, Eric Thiman, Richard Purvis and Ivan Langstroth.

Admission is free and the recital lasts 30 minutes.

Christmas Eve 2011 - St Paul's Cathedral at 7.30pm and 11.00pm

Join the St Paul's Cathedral community as we celebrate Christmas 2011!

The 7.30pm service will be led by the cathedral choir and will feature well known Christmas hymns but will have a more congregational and contemporary feel than the Midnight Mass.

The 11.00pm Midnight Mass, at which Bishop Robert F. Bennett will preside, will also be led by the cathedral choir. The setting is the Messe de Minuit de Noël by Marc-Antoine Charpentier accompanied by organ and strings and the motet is There Is No Rose by Joel Martinson. We will be joined by a brass group who will play the traditional fanfares for O Come, All Ye Faithful and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

Service of Nine Lessons and Carols - St Paul's Cathedral, Sunday December 18th at 4.00pm.

Join us on Sunday afternoon at 4.00pm for the traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols with the Cathedral Choir, Congregation and Clergy.

Music by Whitehead, Nixon, Dexter, Ord, Willcocks, Martinson and the traditional nine readings telling the Christmas story, concluding with the Prologue from the Gospel of John and the Blessing by the Bishop of Huron, The Right Reverend Robert F. Bennett.

BCP Evensong - St Andrew Memorial Church - Wednesday 30th at 7pm

BCP Evensong for the Feast of St Andrew - St Andrew Memorial Church, London, ON at 7.00pm

Come and join the Anglican community at St Andrew Memorial Church as the choir sings Evensong from the Book of Common Prayer - music settings include the canticles in Bb by Stanford and Bairstow's anthem Give Us The Wings of Faith.

BCP Evensong at its cathedral best! This Office of Evensong celebrates the Patronal Festival and 70th Anniversary of St Andrew's.

Procession with Lessons and Carols for Advent - tomorrow at 4:00pm

Procession with Lessons and Carols for Advent - St Paul's Cathedral, 472 Richmond St (at Queens). Tomorrow - Sunday, November 27th at 4:00pm.

Music by Lloyd, Handl, Sterndale Bennett, Guerrero and the O Antiphons sung in Latin.

Hope to see you there!

Advent Procession with Carols and Lessons - Sunday, Nov 27 @ 4pm

The much-awaited and anticipated annual Advent Lessons and Carols service takes place this Sunday afternoon (November 27th) at 4.00pm.

Following the Proclamation of the Advent, the service continues with music from Francisco Guerrero, Sterndale Bennett, Jacob Handl, Richard Lloyd and John Bertalot.

Canon Bill Cliff joins us to sing the O Antiphons (in Latin) and the service includes 8 biblical readings including the Annunciation story.

Five hymns for the congregation complete this first carol service of the year.

The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas will follow on Sunday, December 18th at 4.00pm.

We hope you will join us this Sunday afternoon as we enter into the time of waiting for the birth of the Christ-child.

Tuesday Noonhour Organ Recital - November 22nd at 12.15pm

This week, Andrew Adair (St James' Cathedral, Toronto) plays music by Handel and Franck.

In honour of the Feast of St Cecilia, Andrew plays three movements from Handel's Ode and follows with Prélude, fugue et variation, Cantabile and Pièce héroïque by César Franck.

A Liturgical Year In Review

So, here we find ourselves coming to the end of the church’s year (Year A of the three year cycle) and at the beginning of Advent and a new year, Year B. It’s a good time both to reflect and look forward.

This has been an extremely busy year for the choir and I think that one of the key features of the choir’s work during this time has been its outreach to the wider community. The choir is doing a great deal to connect with Anglicans who call Huron their home and St Paul’s “their” cathedral. The last 12 months have seen the choir visit 17 parishes of the Diocese to sing evensong or a carol service and everywhere we go, apart from being very well fed indeed, the constant comment is how proud the parishes are to host their cathedral choir.

This is an outreach project to which we at St Paul's are passionately committed, particularly given the far flung nature of our diocese. The delight (and sometimes, relief) of those who attend the services we sing around the diocese, when they realise that the BCP is alive and flourishing despite what they may have been led to believe, is often quite palpable.

Here, at home, we have been equally busy and, although somewhat smaller in number than in previous years, we have kept up a challenging selection of repertoire, much of it new to the choir and St Paul’s, with very little repetition year to year. This is a happy and healthy position to be in and the commitment of the members of the choir to our mission is to be applauded.

We are particularly heartened by the way the choir have adapted to (and adopted?) the new musical requirements and challenges of our liturgy as we move forward, ever developing what it means, at least to us, to be an authentic Canadian Anglican cathedral as opposed to one that merely imitates an English model. We are, I believe, amongst a very small number of cathedrals seriously reflecting on where we should be going, and I know that we are working hand-in-hand with the Dean's vision for the future of St Paul’s.

As we come to the Last Sunday after Pentecost: the Reign of Christ (or The Sunday Next Before Advent), next week, Sunday, November 27th, sees our annual Procession with Carols and Lessons for Advent at 4:00 p.m. with music from the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s and 2011.

On Sunday, December 18th also at 4:00 p.m. we will have the well-loved Service of Nine Lessons and Carols with the now traditional mix of seasonal hymns, new arrangements of familiar carols and some newly-published music for Christmas.

So put these in your calendars and come and join us as we journey through Advent to Christmas and beyond.

In closing, on behalf of all the cathedral musicians, I would like to thank the family here at St Paul’s for the encouragement that we receive on an ongoing basis from the community we are privileged to serve.

Gala Organ & Trumpet Concert - November 18th at 7.30pm

On Friday, November 18th at 7.30pm the Cathedral Arts Programme will present a Gala Organ and Trumpet concert.

The performers are Dr Maxine Thévenot, a Canadian organist who is currently Director of Cathedral Music at St John’s Cathedral, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Shawn Spicer, principal trumpet of Orchestra London.

Admission is by donation at the door, with thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor who is supporting this concert.


The concert will be followed by a reception to meet the performers and CDs will also be available.

For more information please contact the cathedral at 519-434-3225 or the Director of Music at AKeeganMackriell@stpaulscathedral.on.ca.

BCP Evensong - Christ Church, Chatham - Sunday Nov 20th @ 5pm

Following on the great evensong last week in St Mary's (and a wonderful supper too!) the Cathedral Choir continues its visits to parishes of the Diocese of Huron this coming Sunday, November 20th.

Come and join the Anglican community in Christ Church, Chatham as the choir sings an English Reformation Evensong with Johnstone 4th Service Canticles, Robert White's Christe qui lux es et dies, and the Preces & Responses by John Reading.

The preacher at the Office will be The Very Reverend Kevin Dixon, Rector of St Paul's Cathedral and Dean of Huron.

BCP Evensong at its cathedral best! This Office of Evensong is part of Christ Church's 150th Anniversary Celebration.

Christ Church, 80 Wellington St West, Chatham,ON N7M 1J1(Map)

BCP Evensong - St James' Church, St Mary's - Sunday Nov 13th @ 4pm

The Cathedral Choir continues its visits to parishes of the Diocese of Huron this coming Sunday, November 13th.

Come and join the Anglican community in St Mary's as the choir sings Stanford in C Canticles, Balfour Gardiner's Evening Hymn (sung in the Latin text Te Lucis Ante Terminum) with the Preces & Responses by Herbert Sumsion.

We will be joined by Maestro Angus Sinclair, OH at the organ.

BCP Evensong at its cathedral best!

St James' Church, 65 Church St S, St. Mary's,ON N4X 1B8 (Map)

Tuesday Noonhour Organ Recital - Tuesday @ 12.15 p.m.

Join organist, David Greenslade, this coming Tuesday at 12.15pm for a recital that includes music by Bach, Brahms, Healey Willan, Flor Peeters, Ronald Beckett and David Johnson.

Take some time out from the busy schedule of the world to relax in the beautiful space of St Paul's Cathedral.

Fanshawe Chorus London and St Paul's Director of Music - November 5th

On Saturday, November 5th, at 7.30pm Fanshawe Chorus London will be joined by St Paul's Cathedral Director of Music and Cathedral Organist, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, to present a concert titled Great Hymns and Anthems.

Music will include Parry's anthem I was glad (as sung at successive coronations), Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, Brahms' Wie Lieblich (How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings) and many popular hymns for the audience to sing with the choir, organ, piano and brass sextet.

As a post-Halloween organ solo, Andrew will play Bach's well-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor (think Phantom of the Opera).

Tickets are available at the door and more information can be found here.

Tuesday Noonhour Organ Recital - Tuesday @ 12.15 p.m.

Our noonhour Organ Recital series continues on Tuesday, November 1st with the Cathedral Director of Music, Andrew Keegan Mackriell, performing works by Bach, Dubois, Saint-Saëns and Borowski.

30 minutes of glorious music during your lunch hour. Come and join us and take some time out from the busy-ness of the world in the beautiful and relaxing space of St Paul's Cathedral.

Music @ St Paul's on Facebook

As part of our presence in the wider world, we now also have a Facebook page for Music @ St Paul's - www.facebook.com/musicatstpauls.

Join us over on Facebook to keep up to date with happenings in the world of music at St Paul's Cathedral!

Diocesan Evensong - St Paul's Cathedral - Sunday, November 6th

So, a great start to the term with three parish visits to sing BCP evensong (in Paris, Sarnia and London).

The next musical item on the schedule is the first of our three Diocesan Evensongs at which members of parish choirs are invited to join the cathedral choir - either as a parish group or individually.

On Sunday, November 6th at 5.00pm we will sing the Office to music by Stanford, Rose and Basil Harwood - his great anthem for All Saints, O How Glorious Is The Kingdom with Maestro Sinclair at the organ.

If you would like the music so that you can come to the rehearsal at 3.00pm on that Sunday and sing with us, please get in touch.

Gala Organ and Trumpet Concert - November 18th at 7.30pm

On Friday, November 18th at 7.30pm the Cathedral Arts Programme will present a Gala Organ and Trumpet concert.

The performers are Dr Maxine Thévenot, a Canadian organist who is currently Director of Cathedral Music at St John’s Cathedral, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Shawn Spicer, principal trumpet of Orchestra London.

Admission is by donation at the door, with thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor who is supporting this concert.


The concert will be followed by a reception to meet the performers and CDs will also be available.

For more information please contact the cathedral at 519-434-3225 or the Director of Music at AKeeganMackriell@stpaulscathedral.on.ca.