Our Residence in Gloucester Cathedral Begins

On Monday, August 8 we began our week as the choir in residence at Gloucester Cathedral. Our days are now settling into a routine schedule -- coach from hotel to cathedral at 9:00 am; rehearse in the Education Centre in the morning; lunch and free time in Gloucester until we gather to prepare for our public rehearsal at 3:30; Evensong service at 5:30. On evenings when we attend concerts in Worcester we then dash to the coach, take-out dinner in hand.

Our rehearsals are in a very old building that is now the Education Centre.












Our first Evensong service in Gloucester included a new Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis "The Selwyn Service" by Canadian composer Stephanie Martin. Ms. Martin is in the area attending the Three Choirs Festival, so she was in the congregation to hear us sing her wonderful setting of these texts.

Another highlight on Monday was a detailed tour of the cathedral. Gloucester Cathedral was built and rebuilt over a period spanning several centuries, and thus exhibits several distinct architectural styles. The Abbey Church of St. Peter was built from 1089 to around 1130, and the massive Norman pillars in the nave date from that period. The vaulted stone ceiling in that area was completed in 1242, replacing a wooden roof that burned.



The cloisters (which were used in the filming of one of the Harry Potter movies) feature fan vaulting from the 1350s, and in fact this technique was invented here.


Bath Abbey is a spectacular later example of the use of fan vaulting.

A number of important historical figures are buried in Gloucester Cathedral, including King Edward II, whose gruesome murder took place in Berkeley Castle in 1327. His magnificent tomb was built on orders of his son Edward III.


Laura S.

Sunday in Worcester

Sunday, August 7 was another busy day for us, again in Worcester at the Three Choirs Festival. Some of us took the early coach to get there in time for the morning Festival Eucharist. This beautiful service featured the combined choirs of Worcester Cathedral, together with the Corelli Orchestra, performing Franz Joseph Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai. It was particularly meaningful to hear this work as part of a worship service in the way that it was intended, rather than in a concert setting. The Corelli Orchestra, performing on period instruments, provided exquisite support to the performance. As a horn player, I must comment in particular on the fine natural horn playing!

By early afternoon, most of the group had arrived, and many attended a performance of Hamlet, in a production by Shakespeare's Globe on Tour. I marveled at the way in which a handful of actors covered all of the characters, changing outer garments and props in quick succession.

Some of our group dashed to the evensong service after the play, while others opted for a more leisurely dinner or a chance to explore Worcester. The evening event was a "9/11 Memorial Concert", performed by the Festival Chorus, the choristers of the three cathedrals, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. The first half included two American works -- Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, and John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls -- as well as the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony no. 5. John Adams' work combined pre-recorded sounds with the live performance, and utilized the texts of missing persons posters found in New York following the 9/11 attack, together with some quotes from "Portraits in Grief", published in the New York Times. The second half featured a fine performance of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626.

Three Choirs Festival, Part I

We have been very busy the last couple of days, so I'm getting a little behind on this blog. Saturday (August 6) the coach took us to Worcester Cathedral, the site of the 2011 Three Choirs Festival. This festival, which rotates yearly among three of the great cathedrals in England -- Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester -- has been in existence for 284 years. We arrived in time to attend the opening service on Saturday morning -- a service full of ceremony and beautiful music. The choirs, joined by the brass of the the Philharmonia Orchestra, performed an anthem by Andrew Carter, and Charles Villiers Stanford's Te Deum.

In the afternoon the coach took us to a girls' school in Malvern for a few hours of rehearsal time. Malvern is a lovely town nestled near the Malvern hills.











We returned to Worcester Cathedral in time to attend the choral evensong service there. This provided the opportunity to hear one of the Worcester Cathedral choirs in the world premiere of a new anthem by Donald Hunt, "Quam dilecta", as well as Stanford's Service in A.

After a quick dinner many of us returned for the evening concert -- Edward Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius". Edward Elgar (1857-1934), the most important English composer of his era, grew up in Worcester, where his father ran a music shop. The Dream of Gerontius is based on the poem by Cardinal Newman. Elgar's work was premiered in 1900; the first performance was not a success, due to insufficient rehearsal time, but critics saw merit in the work, and it has since become Elgar's most popular choral work.


Laura S.

Gloucester, Part I

We arrived at the Ramada Bowden Hall Hotel late in the afternoon on Thursday, August 4, and then road the coach to the Colesbourne Inn for a delicious evening meal together.

Colesbourne Inn

Bowden Hall Hotel











Friday was a free day; while some people chose to stay at the hotel for the day, others went into Gloucester to do laundry or to begin exploring the city.




Gloucester has a very different flavour than either Bath or Oxford. It has a long history as a trading centre. The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal connects it to the Severn Estuary, allowing large ships to enter its port.

Market Day in Gloucester

Draw Bridge on the Canal

Mariners' Chapel

King Edward's Gate

Laura S.

Rainy Day in the Cotswolds

We drove from Oxford to Gloucester by way of the lovely Cotswolds. The word Cotswolds combines the term "cots" -- stone sheep shelters, and "wolds" -- rolling hills. The golden fields of grain and green sheep pastures are defined by distinctive stone fences built from the Oolite limestone that is quarried in the region. Farm and village buildings are also constructed of this limestone.

We stopped to explore two typical market towns -- Burford and Chipping Campden. Both have their origins in the wool trade, but now rely heavily on the tourist trade. There were plenty of small shops, tea rooms, and pubs to provide shelter from the rain.

Our coach driver did an excellent job of maneuvering through the narrow, winding roads to our new hotel outside Gloucester.


Burford Street View

Chipping Campden

Chipping Campden Market Hall

St. James Church, Chipping Campden

Typical stone fence












Laura S.

Time with the Bard

Today the choir made the trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Our first stop was in Shottery at the home of Anne Hathaway, to whom Shakespeare was married when he was eighteen. Together they had three children. It was a quaint cottage in the Tudor style framed with local oak and a thatched roof.

The bulk of the afternoon was spent in Stratford itself, starting with a driving tour of the main sites. The choir was then dropped off in the town centre for individual exploration. Possible places to see included the birthplace of Shakespeare, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and the like. Of course, there were many shops, cafes, and pubs to visit. There was even a magic shop where one could buy a wand similar to Harry Potter's.

In the evening we entertained the people of nearby Alveston with a small concert featuring a selection of music from our repertoire. Choral and ensemble pieces were punctuated with wonderful organ pieces performed beautifully by Warren and Tammy-Jo. It was wonderful to help St. James parish raise funds for the repair of their church tower.

It will be great to spend a few days rest in Gloucester before we start next week's evensongs.

Glen W.

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Tuesday, August 2: I've been to London to visit ...

Well, I'm not sure that any of us visited the Queen today, but about 20 of our group piled onto the coach at 8:00 am to see how much of London we could cover in a one-day visit. The rest of the group took the day to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere at the hotel and to explore more of Oxford.

The London group managed to cover a lot of territory in one day. I spent several hours at the Victoria and Alberta Museum, which was founded in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures. It is now "the world's greatest museum of art and design" with huge collections of ceramics, furniture, textiles, sculptures, and other fine and decorative arts from around the world and through the ages.

I next tried to rent a bicycle to explore Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, but the self-serve bike rental didn't work well for me, so I settled for a stroll through part of Hyde Park -- hard on my feet but a better way to take pictures of the lovely flower gardens there.

After a very hot and crowded rush-hour tube ride I got to St. Paul's Cathedral just as they were starting their Choral Evensong service. The first cathedral to be built after the reformation, St. Paul's was designed by the architect Christopher Wren and erected between 1675 and 1710. It's a breathtaking, awe-inspiring place in which to celebrate the beautiful evensong service. After the service I discovered that several other tour members were also there, and Warren was able to provide several details about the organ at St. Paul's.

Other London explorations by the group included the British Museum, double-decker tour buses, the Tower of London, the Natural History Museum, and a lot of great places to eat. Three of our group even managed to Brighton for the day.

One of London's newer sculptures

Flowers in Hyde Park:

Saint Paul's Cathedral