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posted: Friday, 19 December, 2003
The new music list covering Christmas and the start of next year is now available online; an addition to the repertoire is Tavener's Collegium Regale canticles to be sung on Christmas Eve.
All that remains to do this year is to thank all of our visitors for their continued interest and support of the site, and to wish everyone a very happy christmas and prosperous new year.
posted: Friday, 12 December, 2003
An advert for next academic year's three choral scholars has appeared in today's Church Times (advert available under the 'Organists and Layworkers' sub heading). The application closing date is Friday 9 January.
Yet again, having believed that the choir's discography is complete, more recordings have come to light in the Cathedral Library. There is now a recording of the organ from 1965 and a Festival Concert by the Choristers from 1991 listed.
posted: Monday, 8 December, 2003
The Church Times has reviewed a selection of Christmas CDs and has given "top billing" to Truro Cathedral's When he is King recorded earlier this year on the Lammas label; the reviewer suggests that this release "hoists Truro right up into the Westminster league". The Organist of Truro is Robert Sharpe, the former Assistant Organist at Lichfield.
posted: Thursday, 20 November, 2003
The latest music list is now available online, and includes a concert of christmas music to be given by the Cathedral Choir on Friday 12 December entitled 'The Cathedral Choir's Christmas Cracker'.
The list of broadcast choral Evensongs has been updated again and now lists services going back to 1944. There are periods such as June 1948 where Evensongs were broadcast weekly for four weeks, and February 1946 when there were three consecutive broadcasts. As mentioned previously we are trying to get copies of all broadcasts before 1983 for the Cathedral Library - if anyone has recordings that they would be willing to loan for transferring to CD, please e-mail us.
posted: Friday, 24 October, 2003
The new music list is now available online and it includes a BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Evensong on Wednesday 5 November, and the Enthronement of the new Bishop of Lichfield on Saturday 15 November.
The list of broadcast choral Evensongs has been updated and now lists services going back to 1979. This list is not exhaustive and any details people can supply about missing broadcasts would be appreciated. We are also trying to get copies of all broadcasts before 1996 for the Cathedral Library and if anyone has recordings that they would be willing to loan for transferring to CD, please e-mail us.
posted: Saturday, 18 October, 2003
Having previously said that the discography was complete, an earlier LP has come to light. Although an earlier recording had been referred to in conversation, nobody had been able to provide a copy before now and as such it was omitted from the discography. It was released in 1966 and produced from "tapes supplied by the Organist"; it would appear to have been supported by the Friends of the Cathedral. The image of the sleeve and track listing are now available online.
posted: Friday, 26 September, 2003
The latest music list is now available online. Evensong on Sunday 28 September is sung by the Cathedral Choir with the choir of St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham.
posted: Tuesday, 23 September, 2003
The Cathedral Choir will be visiting Hasselt in Belgium on 17 - 19 October, to take part in the 200th Anniversary celebrations of the dispersal of the treasures from Herkenrode Abbey, from where the stained glass in Lichfield Cathedral's Lady Chapel came from. They are giving a concert in Hasselt Cathedral at 8.00pm (local time) on Saturday evening, and singing for the Cathedral Eucharist the next day.
posted: Monday, 15 September, 2003
Following on from last week's news item, several other online publications have recently printed articles: these include the Daily Telegraph; Aled Jones writing in the Guardian; the Church Times; and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
posted: Tuesday, 9 September, 2003
The BBC reports that Professor David Howard from the University of York has found that girls' choirs are indistinguishable from boys' choirs. He was interviewed with Peter Giles, of the CDTCC, on this morning's Today programme (the interview will shortly be available to listen online).
posted: Monday, 8 September, 2003
BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong on 5 November will be broadcast from Lichfield Cathedral. November also sees Radio 3 broadcasting Evensongs from Winchester Cathedral (12 November), and Truro Cathedral (26 November) where the current organists are Andrew Lumsden and Robert Sharpe respectively, both of whom are formerly of Lichfield.
A new page has been added to this site providing direct access to the biographical details of cathedral music composers as utilised in the music lists.
posted: Friday, 29 August, 2003
The new music list is now available online. The Cathedral Choir returns from vacation on Sunday 7 September for a week of primarily men's voices services and several new additions to the repertoire. Another major reintroduction to the repertoire is Walton's The Twelve at Evensong on Sunday 21 September.
This year's new choristers are being installed during Evensong on Saturday 13 September, and Evensong on Saturday 20 September will be attended by members of the Cathedral's Former Choristers Association.
The discography is now entirely complete as it includes a scanned image of the 1970 Evensong LP sleeve to accompany the existing track listing.
posted: Wednesday, 20 August, 2003
The personnel listings have been updated to reflect the choir for the next academic year.
posted: Wednesday, 13 August, 2003
The site now includes four photographs by Tom Allwood a local photographer and deputy in the Cathedral Choir. Tom exhibited at the Lichfield Festival earlier this year and he has kindly given permission for some of his work to be incorporated in to this site along with some previously unpublished photographs. Where his images have been used there is a link back to his site which includes an online copy of the exhibition from which prints can be purchased. The exhibition images on this site can be found here, and here.
posted: Friday, 1 August, 2003
The new music list is now online and covers the rest of August. The BBC has recently produced a series of panoramic views of the Cathedral which are all available through their web site.
posted: Tuesday, 22 July, 2003
The Right Reverend Jonathan Gledhill was named as the new Bishop of Lichfield by Downing Street last week. More details can be found in the Church Times's article, and in the local Birmingham Post report.
posted: Friday, 4 July, 2003
The new music list which includes the final two weeks of term is now available online.
At 7.30pm on Tuesday 29 July Peter James, who was a Lay Vicar at Lichfield between 1969 and 1974, is giving a talk entitled 'John Alcock - a remarkable eighteenth century musician' in Tewkesbury Abbey Hall as part of the Musica Deo Sacra festival; John Alcock was organist of Lichfield between 1750 and 1760. Tickets for the talk cost £5.00 each and details about buying the tickets are available from the festival's web site.
posted: Wednesday, 25 June, 2003
The Times published an article about David Hill taking over at St John's College, Cambridge which discusses Christopher Robinson's work and the position of the college choir. Michael Berkeley has written a feature for the Guardian about the place of cathedral music today. A book review in the New Yorker about the King James Bible includes an American view of the "antique rite known as Evensong" in England.
For a trial period this web site will include adverts provided by Google in the panel on the right hand side of this page. The adverts promise to relate to the material provided on this site and, as such, should provide a useful resource for people.
posted: Thursday, 12 June, 2003
The choristers are working with local primary schools as part of the Music Share trial scheme which will culminate in a concert in the Cathedral on 15 July. A local paper reports on the visit of the choristers to a local primary school.
posted: Monday, 9 June, 2003
During Evensong on Saturday the two newest Lay Vicars were installed; the list of current Lay Vicars has been updated accordingly. Last year's news items have also been archived to a separate page to retain them for historical interest.
posted: Friday, 6 June, 2003
The latest music list is now available online. It includes Herbert Howell's Westminster Service for the Friends' Evensong on Saturday 14 June which is a new addition to the choir's repertoire. At 3.00pm, before Evensong, this Sunday (Pentecost) Olivier Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecote will be performed.
posted: Friday, 16 May, 2003
Adverts for a new Alto (Countertenor) Lay Vicar Choral starting in September 2003, and for a Tenor Choral Scholar for the academic year 2003/4 have appeared in today's Church Times (adverts available under the 'Organists and Layworkers' sub heading). The application closing date is Friday 30 May, and the auditions will be held in Lichfield on Friday 6 June.
posted: Wednesday, 14 May, 2003
Today's Daily Telegraph includes a report about an inflatable church which the designer believes will "breathe new life into Christianity". There are more pictures on the the product's web site.
posted: Friday, 9 May, 2003
The new music list is now available online and it includes the choir's first performance of Jonathan Harvey's Come, Holy Ghost alongside the second performance of Jackson Hill's setting of the canticles for the choir on Saturday 7 June. The Cathedral Chamber Choir is broadcasting Morning Worship from the Cathedral on the award winning BBC Radio 4 this Sunday (11th May) at 8.05am.
posted: Saturday, 3 May, 2003
The list of suggested reading has been updated and now includes a selection of general music reference books alongside books about cathedral music and a general selection of CDs. A new addition to the list is Dr George Guest's autobiography, A Guest at Cambridge, which is a particularly appropriate inclusion on the day of his memorial service at St John's College, Cambridge. On a local level the Bishop of Lichfield's farewell service was reported by the local press.
posted: Sunday, 13 April, 2003
The new music list covering Holy Week and Easter is now available online. Evensong on Easter Sunday is also a service of farewell to the Right Reverend Keith Sutton who is retiring as Bishop of Lichfield.
posted: Saturday, 22 March, 2003
Guildford Cathedral's local paper reports on the first concert given by the newly formed girls' choir under the direction of Louise Marsh. Currently the assistant organist at Guildford, Louise was the previous assistant organist at Wakefield Cathedral which was one of the first UK cathedrals to found a girls' choir in 1992.
posted: Friday, 14 March, 2003
The latest music list is now available online. I am very aware that many of the links to Priory Records's CDs on amazon.co.uk (using the [BUY] link) quote between four and six weeks for delivery: having spoken to Neil Collier (MD of Priory) this is apparently only to cover amazon.co.uk and any Priory CDs ordered through amazon.co.uk should in fact be received within a few days.
Yesterday's online edition of the Guardian included an article defending Lichfield after 'Country Life' had rated Staffordshire last in a league table of counties. The article also describes the Cathedral and the Close and commended readers to attend Evensong.
The RSCM's web site reports that Dr Lionel Dakers died in hospital in Salisbury on Wednesday 12 March, and that his Requiem Mass will be held in
Salisbury Cathedral on Friday 21 March. He was the director of the RSCM from 1973 to 1989.
posted: Friday, 14 February, 2003
The new music list is now available online and includes Wednesday 5 March (Ash Wednesday) on which the Cathedral Choir are singing Allegri's setting of the Miserere mei (psalm 51) at Evensong. A new setting of the canticles written for Lichfield by the American composer Jackson Hill will be sung on Friday 7 March at the Evensong for the Commemoration of Benefactors.
A recent report in the press (which can be read here) about a service in Norwich Cathedral to celebrate the centenary of Norwich City Football Club shows either the increasing musical diversity required of cathedral choirs today, or a bold ruse to boost chorister recruitment!
posted: Monday, 3 February, 2003
The BBC has just reported that the government is to amend its licensing bill so that places of public worship will not require a licence to put on entertainment. Their report can be read here.
posted: Friday, 31 January, 2003
The site has just been awarded another Golden Web Award for a third year running; the title page has been updated to include this year's award.
There was an item on yesterday's edition of the BBC Radio 4's 'You and yours' regarding the problem of chorister recruitment, and looking at the progress made by Truro Cathedral (whose current Organist is Robert Sharpe, Lichfield's former Assistant) working with local primary schools. There is also information about the available government funding referred to in the feature on the Choir Schools' Association web site under 'News'.
posted: Sunday, 26 January, 2003
In a large update of the available material, details of former Lay Vicars and Priest Vicars going back to the mid 1800s are now available by following the links at the foot of the relevant page: Lay Vicars arranged by stall; Priest Vicars.
It is also now possible to buy copies of the current CDs through this web site in the CD shop; all the CDs are the same price (£15.00 for UK delivery or £16.00 for International delivery) and the prices include post and packaging. The CD shop uses PayPal to handle all the transactions and can accept all major credit cards. At present it is only for Lichfield's own releases, other commercially available CDs are still available through links to amazon.co.uk.
posted: Friday, 17 January, 2003
The latest music list is now available online. An article appeared in the Independent before Christmas talking about the problems of chorister recruitment faced by cathedrals, the full text of the article can be fourd here on the Independent's web site.
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