A HAMPSHIRE cathedral has hosted an event uniting choirs from all over the South.
The Southern Cathedrals Festival (SCF), hosted at Winchester last weekend, was a resounding success, drawing together Salisbury, Chichester, and Winchester cathedrals choirs.
Following the festival's welcome service on Thursday, sung by the boy choristers and lay clerks of Winchester, there was an extraordinary organ recital by Jonathan Hope, who provided an improvised soundtrack to Lon Chaney’s 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera.
Afterwards, the lively festival fringe event, hosted by the director of music, organist, and lay clerks of Winchester Cathedral, was laden with humour, musical talent, and the appearance of a pantomime horse.
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Friday’s events saw the arrival of the Chichester and Salisbury choirs, who contributed to a beautiful Mattins service with music by Ireland, Walton, and Gibbons. At St Lawrence’s Church, former chorister Verity Sawbridge gave a recital accompanied by her brother Laurie.
The afternoon featured a lecture by Katherine Dienes-Williams on her experiences in English choral music, and a "Come and Sing" workshop led by Bob Chilcott. This workshop culminated in a performance of the Fauré Requiem, featuring solos by Ruby, Annie, Eira, Mr. Gallear, and Mr. Wilson-King. The boy choristers and lay clerks were honoured to sing for BBC's choral evensong for the second time this year, alongside their counterparts from Salisbury and Chichester.
Saturday began with a Festival Eucharist featuring the massed choirs performing Rheinberger’s Cantus Missae, led by Claudia Grinnell. The junior choir, directed by Mr. Burton, and the chamber choir, led by Mr. Stephens, delivered a recital of music spanning from the Renaissance to the present day. On Saturday evening there was a grand concert featuring the Southern Cathedrals Festival Brass Ensemble.
The performance opened with Sir John Rutter’s Winchester Te Deum, followed by a selection of pieces setting Jane Austen’s prayers to music by contemporary female composers.
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The concert also included anthems by Bruckner, Stanford, and Bairstow, led by the directors of music from each cathedral—Dr Lumsden, Mr Harrison, and Mr Halls. A highlight was Kerensa Briggs’ O nata lux, commissioned for the 25th anniversary of the girl choristers.
Interspersed with the choral pieces were interludes by the Festival Brass Ensemble, featuring works by Berkeley, Sam Toth, and Gigout. The concert concluded with a powerful performance of Philip Moore’s At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners, first commissioned for the SCF and premiered in Winchester in 2011.
The brass ensemble’s strategically placed trumpets evoked the angels at the earth’s corners, creating a magnificent atmosphere throughout the cathedral’s nave.
The festival concluded with the Winchester Cathedral Foundation Day. The Eucharist featured Flor Peeters’ Missa Festiva, followed by Choral Evensong. This was the final service for both Dr Andrew Lumsden and Claudia Grinnell. Dr Lumsden’s 22-year tenure as director of music at Winchester Cathedral was celebrated with deep gratitude. His final Evensong, featuring Stanford’s Evening Service in A and Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, was a fitting tribute to his remarkable contributions.
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