The Cathedral Choir is a much loved and valued part of the life of the Cathedral and the Diocese. It provides an inspiring and moving musical output and source of inspiration for other parishes around the diocese. Following COVID the music department have been re-building adjusting the way it operates to create a more sustainable future for church music here in Nottingham whilst also recognising the ways society has changed, and the needs of students.

Therefore, in order to best equip and preserve the musical tradition on Nottingham Cathedral we have taken the exciting decision to appoint a team of Lay Clerks to support the team of Choral Scholars and the dedicated volunteers here at the Cathedral. Whilst this is in part a response to difficulties that we have found in recruiting scholars, it has also been taken to ensure better musical provision of music at the Cathedral is less susceptible to changes and absences.

This will help the Cathedral Choir meet the demands necessary for the liturgical life of the Cathedral whilst enabling for a better scholarship experience as they work alongside experienced singers. It will also help us to be better prepared for the future as we look to increase the musical output at the Cathedral including regular vespers.

We have been fortunate to establish a successful Schools Singing Programme in the past two years which continues to grow as we look to the future, growing and encouraging talent here in Nottingham. The Boys and Girls Choirs here at the Cathedral and the Mansfield Children’s Choir have been steadily growing in confidence and number and given time will become a strong part of the musical output of the Cathedral and hopefully in turn become members of the Cathedral Choir. Whilst this is a long term goal, now is the time to lay the foundations for these plans as we continue to recover from the pandemic. The Lay Clerks will be a vital support to these programmes as they demonstrate the progression routes and increase the talent and expertise in the music department.

​If you are interested in being one of our talented and experienced lay clerks, please get in touch at: cathedralmusic@dioceseofnottingham.uk for more information and to apply. 

st​Three hundred children from the Diocese of Nottingham, have raised their voices in songs of praise this week, as part of the National Schools Singing Programme.
 
On the Feast of St Nicholas (Monday) and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, (Wednesday) hundreds of children, selected from seven different schools, performed challenging chant along with traditional carols at St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham.
 
The school children of Nottingham Diocese have been rehearsing hard since September as part of the national programme which is aimed at enhancing musical education in Catholic schools.
 
Addressing the congregation on Monday evening, Director of Music for Nottingham Diocese, Gregory Treloar said: “Back in September I started going into seven schools around Nottingham and have been engaging over 400 children in singing and making music, through whole class sessions. In this programme, we hope to give children in the diocese access to quality music tuition regardless of area and background.
 
“We are seeking to inspire young people of the diocese to engage with their faith through music and the focus of the programme has been to use sacred music as a basis for teaching singing and music. The response has been fantastic, and I have been so impressed by the progress and enthusiasm that all of the classes have shown; I am delighted that they are able to showcase their hard work and talent for the glory of God here tonight.”
 
The children performed a variety of numbers including Myn lyking along with traditional carols such as O Come All Ye Faithful and Away in a Manger. The older children took on some difficult chant by singing one of the beautiful O Antiphons - O Oriens.
 
Reflecting on the events, Gregory Treloar said: “It has been such an enormous privilege to lead these two carol services as part of the Schools Singing Programme. The enthusiasm and commitment of the children has been so special and the joy with which they approach music making is really wonderful to see.
 
“I am enormously grateful to the members of staff and headteachers who have made these events possible and for the support of Bishop Patrick, Peter Giorgio, and Fr Simon Gillespie.
 
“This has all be made possible through funding from the Hamish Ogston Foundation and the National Schools Singing Programme who are doing an excellent job of reaching out to dioceses across the country to help more children interact with their faith through music.
 
“I hope that having achieved this much in a such a short amount of time, we will be able to continue growing this programme and reaching more schools and children across the diocese.”
 
Speaking at the carol concert on Monday evening, Peter Giorgio, Head of Education for the Diocese of Nottingham said: “One of the aspects that our primary schools have missed most over the past year or so has been being able to sing together.
 
“Singing offers such tremendous benefits. It helps our children to develop confidence and sometimes to unlock hidden talents. I really do hope that your child has enjoyed their experience of giving glory to God through music here in our beautiful cathedral this evening.”

Tracy Lane, Headteacher at St Patricks said

'The children thoroughly enjoyed this amazing opportunity to sing in the beautiful setting of the cathedral of which they were in awe. The whole evening from arriving to performance was magical and a pleasure to watch the joy and happiness with which the children engaged with [the musical director] and showed such passion for singing- it brought the awe and wonder we search for in our lives to life. Thank you so much to  Greg for inspiring our children and giving them this opportunity to shine!

The Music Department are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the first year of seed funding for the creation of two hubs of excellence here in the Diocese of Nottingham around its Multi-Academy Trusts in Derby and Nottinghamshire. Bishop Patrick McKinney commented that he was "delighted that our Diocese is joining the National Schools Singing Programme and grateful to the Hamish Ogston Foundation for supporting the Church in this important area of evangelisation." Diocesan Chief Operating Officer David Lawes said "Under the leadership of our Director of Music Gregory Treloar we will be working with children in our schools to develop musical excellence and create choirs. This financially sustainable programme allows the transmission of musical opportunities over many years to large numbers of boys and girls in our two biggest population centres."

Here in Nottingham we will be looking forward to establishing our two new choirs for boys aged 7-13 and Girls and 7-13 in September to work alongside the Youth Choir for children aged 13-18. All these choirs are free and un-auditioned. If your child is interested in joining the Youth Choir, please do get in touch.

For more information about the National Schools Singing Programme visit:
National Schools Singing Programme | Catholic Grant Funding (nssp.org.uk)

What is Christmas without music and choral singing?

Whilst it is sad that the choir have not been able to continue into the new year, It was such a joy that the appointment of the new Director of Music, and the return of both the Cathedral Choir and Youth Choir coincided with one of the great musical feasts of the Church’s year, Christmas.

As was true for all choirs 2020 was difficult year in which the choir were left unable to rehearse together following the great success of their concert of the Bach St John Passion, which would also prove to be the last concert of both the Director of Music Alex Patterson and the Assistant Director of music Ellie Martin.

Fast forward to December and the safe return of the Cathedral Choir to the Cathedral worship was welcome step towards normality. Music is so important to the Cathedral and hugely valued by the parishioners who were worried that the musical life of the Cathedral would be irreparably damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

​Jim Lee, a parishioner, wrote:

“It was a relief to hear in the autumn that Gregory Treloar was appointed Music Director – but who was he?  What would he be like?  How could he follow giants like Peter Smedley, Neil Page and Alex Paterson? 

Mass on the First Sunday of Advent answered all the vital questions.  The number of singers was very limited but still there were familiar faces and some I didn’t recognise.  Both were encouraging!  The strength in depth was still there and ability to attract new members.  Another thing hit me - that the choir were all smiling; pleased to be back and loving the opportunity to sing. 

The following weeks were similar.  I am not a musician but the musical standards seem to be as high as ever.  The Gregorian Chant is delivered with a strong emphasis on hearing the words distinctly and a lively reverence.  There has been an Our Father in English which is very good and a welcome change as the congregation are not to sing at present.  There are motets and other more technical choral works in the best classical traditions.”

The Youth choir also did a brilliant job of leading a well-attended and gratefully received outdoor candlelight carol service which was allowed congregants to sing. Those who came deemed the cold a necessary sacrifice for the chance to sing some of their favourite Christmas carols at least once over the Christmas period.

​Whilst the ongoing restrictions mean that both choirs are currently unable to meet, we look forward to returning again in the near future to bring music back to the Cathedral once again.

Former Director of Music, Alex Patterson, writes:
​
Following three incredibly impactful years, Ellie Martin has left Nottingham Cathedral after successfully gaining a place onto a fast track programme to be a Children and Families Social Worker. Those of you who have gotten to know Ellie will no doubt agree with me that, although this is a huge loss for the Cathedral, Ellie is exactly the person with the knack for nuance that makes her a perfect candidate for working with children and young people in need.

Ellie joined the Cathedral in September 2017 as our Youth Choir Director, which immediately opened up a range of possibilities for the development of the music foundation. Ellie was instrumental in helping shape our strategy and vision for music at the Cathedral, which had our young singers at the centre. We both appreciated that a music foundation is nothing without its people and those dedicated individuals who turn up each week, and it was important that our work was driven by creating a safe space and a range of opportunities for these individuals to flourish.

There have been many highlights: Youth Choir performances from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on Good Friday in 2018 to Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo by Joseph Horowitz in July 2019, establishing Vivace, a group of the older girls of the Youth Choir to explore more challenging repertoire, and singing a wider range of services, from Ordinations to weddings. Then there was Lourdes. Taking the Cathedral Choir on the Diocesan Pilgrimage was a dream harboured by Canon Geoffrey Hunton, and Ellie and I were keen that, in celebration of the Cathedral’s 175th Anniversary, we should take members of the Youth Choir too. The monumental task resulted in many fundraising events spearheaded by Ellie (who could forget the Hymnathon!) and the ongoing tireless efforts of ensuring the tour was enjoyable and safe. I still have a huge sense of pride that the Youth Choir took centre stage for the 175th Anniversary Mass on St Barnabas Day in 2019.

Of course, Ellie’s role extended beyond the Youth Choir, becoming a regular member of the Cathedral Choir, deputising for me on many occasions, and forming a pillar of the Cathedral’s musical family. Our work with the Nottingham Music Hub also saw Ellie running the Robin Hood Youth Choir based at the Cathedral and inspiring hundreds of children and young people in city schools through workshops and massed choir performances at both the Albert Hall and Royal Concert Hall. How lucky too that we were able to benefit from her work as a professional singer in her own right. I can still hear her voice soaring over the final moments of our performance of Tobas and the Angel by Jonathan Dove back in 2018, and it was an honour to work with her when she sang the soprano solos (as well as singing in the dramatic chorus writing) in our performance of J. S. Bach’s St John Passion earlier this year. The day of the concert also happened to be her birthday, and it was characteristic of Ellie that she should give of all her musical and humans talents to ensure that it was the rest of us who received the gift that day – a heartrending performance of ‘Zerfliesse mein herze’. Thankfully, Ellie assures me that she will still be singing, which will be a relief to us all.

Ellie’s appointment as Assistant Director of Music was long overdue and only scratches the surface of someone who went above and beyond to ensure we were always striving to be as inclusive and as welcoming as possible, without falling short of the standards the Cathedral aspires to.
​
I will be forever grateful to Ellie for her support, encouragement, friendship, and humour during our time at Nottingham and wish her well for this exciting new chapter in her life.

We are delighted to hear that the hymn tune 'St Barnabas (Nottingham)', written by our former organist Robert Gower, will be included in the new revision of the English Hymnal later this year.

Composed during his time at the Cathedral, Robert's hymn tune was written for the hymn 'A man to Christ committed' by Timothy Dudley-Smith, and sung during the Mass to Celebrate the Cathedral's 175th Anniversary in 2019.

It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to Alex Patterson who, in July, will take on the post of Director of Music at Salford Cathedral.
 
Alex joined the Nottingham Cathedral music team as a Choral Scholar in 2006, going on to be Composer-in-Residence in 2009, followed by Assistant Director of Music in 2011, and then taking up the post of Director of Music in 2014. His innovative and forward-thinking approach to the role, whilst always striving for excellence, has ensured that the reputation of the music at the Cathedral has gone from strength to strength. Alex is sensitive to important traditions in the Catholic Church and in the Cathedral itself, whilst also realising where change - and sometimes a risk - is needed. The ability to decipher what is important, and what isn’t, is one of the things that makes Alex’s direction really special, along with his sensitivity and skill for finding balance. 
 
He is also a strong advocate for giving people a chance; he spots potential and has faith in people. Perhaps most importantly, Alex creates an environment where people feel welcome and accepted, and thus able to flourish. He also has a rare and innate ability in bringing people together. Shortly after I joined the Cathedral music team in September 2017, it became clear to me very quickly that the Cathedral Choir at St Barnabas is a family, in the true sense of the word. People support each other and socialise with each other, everyone mucks in and helps, alumni want to return for masses, concerts and tours, and volunteers want to give their time to sing in the choir, week in, week out, because they feel it is something worth doing. I understand that this atmosphere is something that existed before Alex was Director of Music, and long before my time at the Cathedral, but it has clearly continued under Alex’s watch and has been very much at the forefront of his direction of the choir. 
 
Alex’s open-mindedness and diverse attitude to music making has ensured that the music at the Cathedral has been far reaching and varied. Events such as last year’s fundraising ‘Hymnathon,’ the Spem in Alium concert, which used all the different parts of the Cathedral to enhance the audience’s experience, and the ever popular Cabaret evening, are a reflection of this. His aim is always to bring about a sense of community through music - a thread that has also run through his numerous other roles outside the Cathedral, and will no doubt continue to in his future endeavours. 
 
At the heart of everything Alex does is an attitude of looking outwards rather than inwards, and because of this he has been instrumental in integrating the Cathedral much further into the local community, making it a place where more and more people feel welcome. This was one of the main aims of the Cathedral Music Festival in 2018, which was supported in part by Arts Council England, following Alex’s successful funding application. The festival culminated in Jonathan Dove’s community opera, Tobias and the Angel - a huge team effort led by Alex, where the cathedral choirs were joined by local musicians and soloists, singers from the Music for Everyone youth choirs, and Streetwise Opera. Furthermore, tickets for the opera were priced as ‘pay what you can,’ as they have been for several concerts. The connection with Streetwise Opera is a long established one, with their members frequently giving up their time to help out at Cathedral concerts. Alex has also forged connections with local churches and musical groups, and has helped build a flourishing partnership with Nottingham Music Service. 
 
On a personal note, I will miss Alex very much, and I know I can say with confidence that I am one of so many people who will feel the same. On behalf of the music team, the Cathedral Choir, the Youth Choir, and the many alumni who have sung for and alongside Alex over the past 14 years, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Alex for his hard work, humour, patience, tenacity and for always going above and beyond - well beyond his remit - for the music at the Cathedral, and for other people. It goes without saying that Alex is an extraordinary musician, but what makes him such a good Director of Music is how much he cares about people. He doesn’t seek limelight and praise for himself, but rather spends most of his time lifting other people up (metaphorically speaking, although he has been going on about his recently improved upper body strength quite a lot). Salford Cathedral are extremely lucky to have him, as Nottingham has been, and we will miss him dearly. We wish him all the very best in this exciting new role, where I’m sure he will make his mark very quickly.
 
Thank you, Alex. 

#Alexit

Director of Music, Alex Patterson, explores the features of J. S. Bach's St John Passion ahead of the Cathedral Choir's upcoming performance on Saturday 7 March 2020.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) left the royal court of Anhalt-Köthen in May 1723 to take up his duties as Kantor (Director of Music) of St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig. As part of his role as Kantor, Bach had resolved to compose liturgical cantatas for every Sunday of the church’s year, and it was during his first year in the post that Bach composed the Johannes-Passion (St John Passion). It was heard for the first time on Good Friday, 7 April 1724, at the nearby St Nicholas’s Church, due to a last minute change of venue.

The St John Passion is set in two parts: Part 1 concerns the arrest of Jesus and Peter’s denial, and Part 2 covers the questioning by Pontius Pilate, the Crucifixion, and the death and burial of Jesus. In the original context of the Lutheran Good Friday liturgy, a sermon would have been delivered between these two parts, most likely of considerable length (lasting several hours). Bach takes the main text for the Passion from chapters 18 and 19 of St John’s Gospel, yet he includes two moments not found here, but rather in the Gospel according to St Matthew: the weeping of St Peter after his denial, and the tearing of the veil of the temple.

The Gospel narrative is led by the Evangelist in sections of recitative, using near-speech rhythms, accompanied by cello and organ. Soloists take on the roles Christ, Pilate and Peter, and Bach intersperses the story with arias sung by soloists, which reflect on the action just heard. In contrast to his St Matthew Passion composed a few years later, the St John Passion has a stronger sense of urgency and dramatic drive. There are fewer arias than in the St Matthew Passion and, as a result, there are fewer moments of leisurely contemplation. Instead, the St John Passion features frequent interjections from the crowd (sung by the chorus), constantly pushing the action on, as if the narrative is being driven by forces outside of Jesus’s control. The dramatic spirit of the narrative pervades the recitatives and Bach gives important textual passages more prominence through expanded and striking musical ideas. Notable passages include Peter’s lament at the end of No. 12: ‘weinete bitterlich’ (‘wept bitterly’), and the whipping of Jesus at the end of No.18: ‘und geißelte ihn’ (‘and whipped him’).

At the heart of the work are the chorales, meditating on the story at key points. These hymn tunes and words would have been familiar to Bach’s contemporaries and, as such, would have been designed to put us next to Jesus in the story.

‘The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.’
- J. S. Bach

‘Herr unser Herrscher’ (‘Lord, our Ruler’), the dramatic opening chorus, is a striking and unsettling beginning to the St John Passion. The movement is full of dissonances and an overwhelming sense of pain and despair, despite being a hymn of praise. By contrast, the penultimate movement, ‘Ruht wohl’ (‘Rest well’), which mirrors the opening chorus in terms of scale and depth, is an affecting lament full of falling figures suggestive of the lowering of Christ into the tomb.

Throughout the St John Passion, Bach casts the chorus into the roles of the crowd, servants, High Priests, and soldiers, with sudden and often brutal choral outbursts. When the Jews are calling for Christ to be crucified, there is a sense of coercion; the crowd is not necessarily the majority, but those that are louder and angrier than anyone else pressurising others to follow their lead. Bach’s setting of the text is often intensified using similar musical motifs for related texts: ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (No. 2), ‘Crucify him’ (Nos. 21 & 23) and ‘Greetings to you, dear King of the Jews!’ / ‘You should not write: “King of the Jews”’ (Nos. 21 & 25).

The arias of the St John Passion follow the operatic convention of exploring the emotions felt by individuals at various points in the narrative. Again, Bach brings us right into the core of these moments of contemplation, which often feature musical material that is in some way symbolic or holds pictorial significance. No. 7: ‘Von den Stricken meiner Sünden’ (‘My Saviour allows Himself to be bound’), elaborately weaves the tangled oboe lines with the alto soloist. In No. 9: ‘Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten’ (‘I, too, will follow you - with joyful steps’), the flute line ‘follows’ the soprano in close succession, with a stumbling bass line, perhaps intended to imitate our own stumbling footsteps to follow the way of the cross. There is the overly pictorial representation in No. 24: ‘Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen’ (‘Hurry, troubled souls’), with its compelling running line illustrating the words, ‘hurry to Golgatha’.

Symbolic instrumentation is used to great effect in several arias: a pair of violas d’amore in No. 19: ‘Betrachte, meine Seel’ (‘Look, my soul’), reflecting on the whipping of Christ, and in the following tenor aria, No. 20: ‘Erwäge, wie sein blutgefärbter Rücken’ (‘Consider how his blood-stained back’). Always keen to experiment with unusual sonorities, Bach followed standard convention for funerals by using the solo viola da gamba in ‘Est ist vollbracht’ (‘It is completed’), its delicate timbre giving an otherworldly quality at this pivotal point in the Passion.

In addition to the choruses, which are central to the narrative, Bach has the choir singing contemplative chorales throughout the St John Passion. As Sir Simon Rattle remarks, ‘the only place of order and safety is the chorales – the haven of peace in the Passion’.

The congregation at the time of the first performance would have recognised the tunes and words of the chorales, which were used regularly in private devotion as well as in church services. As many of the chorales in the St John Passion sit in an unsuitable range for untrained voices, or are complexly harmonised, it is uncertain whether the congregation would have actually sung these chorales aloud but they certainly would have recited the words quietly to themselves during the performance.

The closing chorale is a triumphant affirmation of faith, ending with optimism, trust in the Resurrection, and a resolve to praise Christ forever.

Tickets for the Cathedral Choir's performance of the St John Passion on Saturday 7 March are still available online.

[Saint] John Henry Newman, Bishop of Nottingham 1850-????
Peter Francis Smedley, Master of Music, Westminster Cathedral 1961-????

It nearly happened, in both cases. When the hierarchy of England and Wales was restored in 1850, Cardinal Wiseman wanted Newman, his most high-profile convert, to be bishop of Nottingham. He persuaded for a long time, but Newman was steadfast in his refusal: he did not want “power” in the Roman Catholic church, and to come to Nottingham would mean working closely with [Arch]bishop Ullathorne of Birmingham, a prospect the gentle and scholarly Newman dreaded as Ullathorne was, shall we say, no respecter of persons.

When the post of Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral came up in 1961 Peter Smedley made it to the last two. He was beaten by the assistant organist at Westminster, Colin Mawby. Ten years later Mawby’s assistant Nicolas Kynaston left to begin his worldwide career as player and teacher, and Peter was asked to succeed him. However by then professional and family circumstances made this impossible and Peter remained at Nottingham Cathedral till his retirement in 2003.

Colin Mawby began his musical career as a boy at Westminster Cathedral. He was thus present in 1947 when auditions took place for a new Master of Music. Among the candidates were George Malcolm, who got the job, and two other London choirmasters: Fernand Laloux of Farm Street and Henry Washington of Brompton Oratory. (In the way that curious coincidences sometimes arise, Washington went on to teach Peter Smedley and Laloux went on to teach me.)

Mawby became assistant to George Malcolm, and was then for a time choirmaster at Portsmouth RC Cathedral (they have two in that city). In 1959 he became assistant to George Malcolm’s successor Francis Cameron, succeeding him as we have seen two years later.

​A taste of the music in Colin Mawby’s early days can be found in the YouTube clip below: 

You will briefly see the future Cardinal Heenan’s solemn entrance into the cathedral and hear Mawby’s choral direction and Kynaston’s playing. And, with Heenan’s fine style, it was splendid: he had been given a great send-off in his former see of Liverpool that afternoon with his flock at the station to say goodbye; a delayed train caused him to have a mad dash to Westminster, with the briefest of blessings to a parish group waiting for him at Euston, before his arrival in his new cathedral, under a canopy, scattering blessings and smiles (he always smiled at his flock as he processed from the altar after Pontifical High Mass) and finally enthroned. As some will remember he was a good media star too;  an excellent appearance with David Frost has never been forgotten.

Mawby evidently enjoyed good relations with Cardinal Heenan, but with Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy it became clear that change was in the offing:  a simplified liturgy and the opportunity to celebrate it in English. Pastorally perfect for parishes and for more experimental liturgies in universities and schools – but what about those centres of excellence, our cathedrals, the mother churches of our dioceses? Should they be leading or following? And what of the patrimony of church music, whether Gregorian chant in some cases a thousand years old or the work of great composers who have served the Church, sometimes – as in the case of Byrd and Tallis – at great danger to themselves?

Mawby saw the opportunities for the new liturgy in a solemn English setting which was broadcast in 1968, televised live from St James’s Spanish Place under the direction of the charismatic Roger Pugh, who later became the assistant organist at Westminster and who, in the company of a Benedictine monk, had a sighting of the Loch Ness monster. Musically Mawby’s mass setting was very interesting indeed, good for choirs to sing and an example of what a good composer could do with the new texts. Nor did Mawby forget choirs and congregations with different needs:  as a parishioner at Matlock in 1972-73 I regularly heard one of his settings, in which simplicity was certainly the watchword.

​But was that all? He was very worried about what would happen at Westminster Cathedral, which at that time had a daily Capitular High Mass at 10:30 and sung or solemn Vespers (depending on the feast) at 5 pm.   Obviously there was scope for different things in other services, but was Latin going to come under attack? The Administrator of the time was a man of immense learning and culture who declared that he felt his chief duty was “to protect the building [the cathedral] from Heenan”, who was very good at steam-rollering through his own ideas. No mention here of the music, and there is no doubt that there were cathedral priests (called chaplains there) who were ill-at-ease with Latin and didn’t look forward to celebrating it. And there started to be pressure from some choir parents, who thought their sons should be singing in English, not old-fashioned and (some thought) heretical and now-forbidden Latin. No wonder Mawby went into print, in a letter to The Times, voicing his concerns (that didn’t go down too well in certain quarters).

And yet . . . it was at this time that the Choir School was rebuilt, and Heenan himself could deliver fine liturgy. I twice saw him on Easter Sunday morning:  full Latin mass, attended by deacon and subdeacon of the Mass, two deacons at the throne, assistant priest in cope and a gentleman-at arms in full livery, and Mawby conducting a Mozart mass complete with orchestra.  

After Heenan’s death Mawby became director of music at the great Jesuit [then] church of the Sacred Heart in Wimbledon, where my parents and I often worshipped, and then in 1981 choral director at Radio Telefís Éireann. Of his many compositions from that time, his powerfully romantic setting of Ave Verum Corpus is a great favourite at Nottingham Cathedral.

Although he kept a relatively low profile after Westminster, it was no surprise to find him last summer entering the lists about what he saw as devastating changes to the organisation of Westminster Cathedral choir school.  And shortly before his death he had gone into print again eloquently warning about the damage that would occur.  

The death of a renowned director of music is always a cause for mourning. Mawby’s successor [Sir] Stephen Cleobury died on St Cecilia’s Day 2019;  Mawby himself died two days later. And to add to our grief, their latest esteemed successor Martin Baker has resigned. Cardinal Heenan and Cardinal Hume, both so supportive to the cathedral’s music, must be turning in their graves.

Director of Music, Alex Patterson, takes us behind the repertoire of our upcoming concert of music by Benjamin Britten on Friday 22 November 2019. 

Maggi Hambling’s ‘Scallop’ sculpture on the beach at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, was set up in 2003 to commemorate the composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), who lived in the town for most of his composing life. It is inscribed by the quote – ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’ – taken from Britten’s first major opera Peter Grimes, which was premiered at the re-opening of of Sadler’s Wells in 1945. The opera was not only important for Britten as a composer, but it was also a landmark moment for British music, and opera in particular – there hadn’t been an opera of note by a British composer since Henry Purcell (1659-1695).

By the age of 21, Britten had got his first job working at the General Post Office film unit, where he met W. H. Auden. The poet obviously had a very keen impact on the young composer, who wrote in his diary the following day: ‘Auden is the most amazing man, a very brilliant & attractive personality’. As well as being collaborators for films such as Coal Face and Night Mail, Auden became something of a mentor towards Britten and having a hand in many of the pieces Britten wrote in the late 1930s: providing the text for the first and last movements of the large orchestral song-cycle Our Hunting Fathers (1936) and introducing Britten to Arthur Rimbaud’s work leading to the song cycle Les Illuminations (1939). Auden encouraged Britten to widen his aesthetic, intellectual and political horizons, and would later play an integral part in spurring Britten to explore his sexuality.

Two significant events in Britten’s life took place in 1937: his mother died, and he met the tenor Peter Pears. They met following a rehearsal of the BBC Singers, of which Peter was a member, and got to know each other later that year while they were both helping to clear out the home of a mutual friend, Peter Burra, who had died in an air crash. Pears quickly became an important musical inspiration for the composer and later life-long partner.
 
In April 1939, Britten and Pears set off to North America, away from the looming war in Europe. Together they settled into a bourgeois lifestyle with Auden and Christopher Isherwood who had moved there earlier the same year. Britten and Pears were more likely to be mistaken for a pair of public schoolmasters, but although the lifestyle didn’t suit them, it wasn’t until 1941 that a decision was made to return. Whilst in California, Britten happened to read an article on the Suffolk poet George Crabbe and on reading his poem The Borough containing the tragic story of Peter Grimes, he later reported: ‘I realised two things: that I must write an opera, and where I belonged’.

Benjamin Britten was born on 22 November, an auspicious day given it is also the Feast Day of St Cecilia (the patron saint of music). It is unsurprising, therefore, that Britten had desired to write an ‘ode’ to St Cecilia for quite some time. As early as 1935 there is evidence that Britten was struggling to find the right text for the work. It was during their time together in America that Britten asked Auden to provide a text for his ode to St Cecilia, which Auden sent in sections to Britten throughout 1940, alongside advice on how to be a better artist. In 1980 Pears recalled, ‘Ben… was no longer prepared to be dominated – bullied – by Wystan, whose musical feeling he was very well aware of… Perhaps he may have been said to have said goodbye to working with Wystan with his marvellous setting of the Hymn to St Cecilia’.
 
Britten started the work in America in 1940 but had only written part of the first movement when in March 1942, he and Pears boarded the MS Axel Johnson in New York for the month-long journey to England. The manuscript of the completed section of the piece was confiscated by customs officials, fearing the music was a secret code, but while at sea, Britten rewrote the confiscated part from memory and finished it on 2 April 1942.

Hymn to St Cecilia is set in three parts, interspersed with a varied refrain on ‘Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions to all musicians, appear and inspire’.
 
The first part concerns the legend of St Cecilia, who is supposed to have invented the organ in order to ‘enlarge her prayer’ – a deliberate use of both Roman and Christian imagery to highlight music’s ability to arouse and soothe. 
 
The second part, a light and lively passage, could refer more to Britten himself (Auden had a history of goading Britten after all), the music conjuring up the image of a child who doesn’t want to grow up – the divided sopranos and tenors chasing each other like a teasing dance in the playground, with the altos and basses holding everything together as the mature adults. A letter from Auden to Britten just before the composer left America is quite telling: ‘Wherever you go, you are and probably always will be surrounded by people who adore you, nurse you, and praise everything you do… You are always tempted to make things too easy for yourself… to build yourself a warm nest of love… by playing the loveable, talented little boy’. The letter suggests that Britten needed to suffer for his art, and although he always battled against this, the ideas of lost innocence and the plight of the outsider never left him and come back time and again in his work.
 
The final part is restless, more regretful than before, and there is a sense of foreshadowing in the theme of lost innocence which develops in Britten’s later operas. Referencing the 17th century odes to St Cecilia, the words refer to different instruments: violin, drum, flute and trumpet, represented by alto, bass, soprano and tenor soloists.

Whilst on their month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1942, Britten was drafting what Peter Pears described as ‘7 Christmas carols for women’s voices and harp’ – an instrument Britten had been studying in depth before his departure after receiving a commission for a harp concerto (unfulfilled for 27 years before he composed his Suite for harp for friend Osian Ellis). Armed with two harp manuals and a copy of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems which the composer had picked up whilst the MS Axel Johnson was berthed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Britten composed the set, with Pears working on a draft scenario for the opera Peter Grimes in the next room – as  Britten himself commented, ‘one had to alleviate the boredom!’ It received its first performance at Norwich Castle in December 1942.
​
A Ceremony of Carols is bookended by the Gregorian chant ‘Hodie Christus Natus Est’ which is also heard in the central harp solo. Following the opening Processional, the work bounds forth into ‘Wolcum Yole’, a child-like excitement for the New Year, before the resonant ostinato bass in ‘There Is No Rose’ which underpins a more adult wonder of the unparalleled Virgin Mary. The lachrymose tear drops in ‘That Yongë Child’ lead directly into Mary’s lullaby for the infant Jesus, Balulalow, contrastingly filled with inner warmth. The exuberant ‘As Dew In Aprille’ describes the mystery of God becoming man, before the fiery battle between heaven and Satan’s forces in ‘This Little Babe’. The Interlude ornaments the opening plainchant in the resonant key of C-flat (when all the strings are at their longest). We encounter the shivering tremolos of ‘In Freezing Winter Night’ before returning to a more child-like playfulness in ‘Spring Carol’. The declamatory climax of ‘Deo Gracias’ gives thanks for the Fall of Adam, the ultimate cause of Christ’s coming, with an exhilarating ‘pile on’ of vocal entries before the work ends as it began with the triumphal ‘Hodie’. 

By the time Britten turned 30 in November 1943, performances of A Ceremony of Carols were proving a sell-out. Three weeks later he wrote to Elizabeth Mayer, a translator and editor with whom both he and Pears stayed between 1939 and 1940, and dedicatee of Hymn to St Cecilia: ‘I am quickly scribbling a short choral work for a prison camp in Germany where some friends of mine are.’ This was The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard written at the request of Richard Wood, whose sister Anne had been in the BBC Singers with Pears and who was imprisoned at the Eichstätt in Germany, where he had organised a male voice choir. Britten’s stance as a conscientious objector in World War II is well known but his sympathies for those caught up in its ramifications were as deeply felt as anyone’s. The music, we are told, was parachuted to the camp on microfilm and received seven performances there. Britten’s letter to Elizabeth Mayer continued – ‘Then I start the opera – for production next Summer!’.
 
The text is an old tale of betrayal and adultery. Lady Barnard has a secret assignation which is revealed by Lord Barnard’s page; as a result of this the Lady gets caught in the act and is murdered. 

By the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, Britten was well established as the preeminent British opera composer given the success of Peter Grimes (1945) and the all-male Billy Budd (1951). The commission to write a new opera to honour the occasion was perhaps brought about by Lord Harewood, a friend of the composer and cousin to the Queen, who Britten suggested had bullied the Queen into it. The first performance took place 6 days after the coronation at a gala event at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but the reception was less than favourable. The national press were harsh in their reviews and the audience of the gala premiere – largely made up of unmusical diplomats and dignitaries – were baffled by the work.
 
The three-act opera depicts the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex, through several tableaux, rather than a developed narrative. The first Elizabeth is presented as a sympathetic, but flawed, character motivated largely by vanity and desire.
 
The Choral Dances occur at the beginning of Act II. Elizabeth I is making her royal progress to Norwich and her loyal subjects decide to present a masque in her honour. Originally choreographed and performed by dancers from the Royal Ballet, the six short movements were introduced by the Spirit of the Masque. The sequence begins with the appearance of the demigod Time, ‘lusty and blithe’, who is followed by his wife Concord. After Time and Concord have danced together, country girls, rustics and fishermen join in the celebrations before the concluding ‘Dance of Homage’ to the visiting sovereign.

The poor reception for the opera meant it was soon ostracized. It sat virtually unheard for a decade, when it had the misfortune to be revived for a concert performance at the Festival Hall, for Britten’s 50th Birthday, the same night in 1963 that news of J. F. Kennedy’s assassination broke. By then, Britten was now an entirely ‘establishment’ figure, something Peter Pears observed was rather remarkable: ‘we are after all queer & left & conshies which is enough to put us, or make us put ourselves, outside the pale, apart from being artists as well’. One can imagine what Auden would have thought.
 
The Queen would go on to open the new Snape Maltings Concert Hall at the beginning of the 20th Aldeburgh Festival in 1967, coincidentally, the same year that the Sexual Offences Act came into being, decriminalising homosexuality.

When were you a Choral Scholar here?

2011-2013 - I started part way through my first year - after the lovely Fiona Spencer (Alto) recommended I go for it (and after being rejected from Viva Voce!)

What attracted you to be a Choral Scholar?

I had attended a Catholic school, and a few girls from my school were actually scholars at the time (Emily McDonald & Lucy Ashlee). The Cathedral is also one of the only cathedrals that has a mixed voice choir - so women get a lot of opportunities that wouldn’t necessarily happen in cathedrals elsewhere. Neil Page also had a great reputation in Notts as an educator, ABRSM examiner, and DoM having been ex DoM at Uppingham School - so I knew I would learn something. 

What did you get out of the experience?

Musically: the ability to sight read, read plainchant, a huge knowledge of liturgical repertoire - and being able to lead a section with confidence; the choir is a mix of scholars and very good volunteers but it is expected that the scholars are the driving force of the choir. It’s also unique that you are actually employed by the church and being paid to sing to a high standard (rather than it being a university scholarship). At the time, we were also fortunate enough to have Alex as the composer-in-residence before his DoM days and whilst he was studying at Birmingham Conservatoire, so we got to sing a lot of Patterson world premieres! 

Also, many friends were made, and the appreciation from the Nottingham Catholic community was great - they really made the choir feel welcome and you were a valued asset (the Cathedral was full for all choral masses).

What did you go on to do after you left?

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, so I built up a database of places to sing back at home in London and depped for various churches on a regular basis whilst I figured it out, and worked in the travel industry alongside singing where I could fit it in. I also sang with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the London Youth Choir and Rodolfus Choir as my main youth organisations whilst I still could - which brought many more opportunities my way. 

I then began to work with Gareth Malone and was a part of his Voices Choir for a couple of years, going on a UK tour, doing various TV appearances with him and album recordings - and helping with various workshops that he ran (one being getting all Football Association workers to make up their own song and sing it!!).

All this whilst also working full time in the corporate world for Mr & Mrs Smith hotels, and Travelzoo as a hotel account manager...

What are you doing now and anything coming up?

I’ve just been staffing on the summer Rodolfus Foundation Choral Courses (previously the Eton Choral Courses), but now based in Cambridge where I’ve just started studying for my Secondary Music PGCE at Homerton College.

The Cathedral Music Department needs very little excuse to celebrate the artistic inspiration that is our Cathedral Church. Each year, the musical programme is always trying to explore new avenues of repertoire to engage, stimulate and, perhaps most important of all, be relevant, and so the opportunity to mark 175 years of music making here in the Cathedral was too good to pass up.

Our performance of Spem in Alium back in March was the first of our events, designed in a way to really use the Cathedral building to its maximum and to encourage the audience members to explore the parts of the building you can’t see from the back. Smaller motets were sung in the Lady Chapel and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, to great effect, before the Choir engulfed the audience in full surround-sound for the 40-part motet itself. The following morning saw the first performance of Amy Summers’ Missa Brevis, which was an important acknowledgement of our commitment to supporting new music and showcasing underrepresented female composers in order to reflect the society we live in. 

Holy Week is always a highlight in the choral calendar, and the Chrism Mass, in particular, is a very important platform to demonstrate what the Music Department is all about. Traditionally, the music is lead by the Diocesan Choir and our Cathedral Choral Scholars, who this year sang a range of motets, from Brahms’ ‘How lovely are thy dwellings fair’ from his German Requiem, and the atmospheric ‘The Deer’s Cry’ by Arvo Pärt. They were joined this year by our Vivace and Cambiata groups who combined specially for the occasion to sing a new setting of ‘Blest by the sun’ by our Director of Music, Alex Patterson, during the Procession of Oils. 

For the Cathedral itself, the focal point in celebrating the 175th Anniversary was on St Barnabas Day – Tuesday 11 June 2019, when our Youth Choir and Choral Scholars joined forces to lead the Mass, singing motets by Christopher Tambling, John Rutter, Amy Summers, Bob Chilcott, and a new ‘Mass of St Barnabas’, again written by Alex Patterson. Also featured was the hymn ‘A man to Christ committed’, Timothy Dudley-Smith’s hymn about St Barnabas, set to a new hymn tune composed by Robert Gower, who finished the Mass with Handel’s ‘Overture from Saul’. The occasion was a great celebration and the singers were on top form. The previous Friday, 7 June, the Cathedral held Ecumenical Choral Vespers led by the Cathedral Choir. Parry’s ‘I was glad’ opened the Vespers with great fanfare, with Howell’s ‘Behold, O God, our defender’ providing suitable intimacy and reflection on Psalm 84 – ‘for one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand’. 

Our choral celebrations continue through to the end of 2019, with notable highlights being An Evening of Britten on 22 November (both composer Benjamin Britten’s birthday and St Cecilia’s Day) and our popular Carols by Candlelight on 13 December. Hopefully see you there!

Being a lover of music and singing in particular, I was very keen to go and hear two people sing who I’d heard are doing amazing things with music at the Cathedral in Nottingham. Alex Patterson and Ellie Martin put together a little recital after Sunday’s Mass on 23 June with Chris Foster as their accompanist, in order to raise monies to take their Cathedral’s Youth Choir to Lourdes in July 2019. 

What an absolute musical bonanza! Alex, who I understood hadn’t sung solo much in recent days, sang a work he’d composed himself called ‘Songs of Innocence’. It was a Song Cycle in five short movements based on a poem by William Blake, of the same title. The lovely interchange between piano and voice reminded me of Benjamin Britten’s music. Alex performed like a regular soloist with a focused sonorous musical tenor voice. His diction was very good too. Ellie, an established soprano soloist (I heard her sing the soprano solo in Mozart’s Requiem some months ago and was very impressed) was a delight to listen to. She chose four pieces of music by Handel, Fauré, Schubert and Schumann, all sung in foreign languages, to display different moods and showing her ability to use her voice appropriately. What a pure, clear, bright soprano voice she has. I hadn’t heard Faure’s ‘Lydia’ before but loved her performance, and her Schumann’s ‘Widmung’ in particular. 

Finally, the two of them sang the duet ‘All I Ask of You’ from The Phantom of the Opera. I thoroughly enjoyed their performance both individually and together. And I mustn’t forget Chris Foster who accompanied them very musically and appropriately. 

The short lunchtime recital was a great way to spend 30 minutes on a Sunday and my friend and I weren’t the only people who thought so by the audience’s clapping at the end. 

Despite having been to the cathedral many times before and hearing the fabulous music department perform in masses, services and concerts throughout the liturgical year, this was my first time at one of their famous cabarets. I had heard great things about it from previous years so I was greatly looking forward to the evening’s performances. They did not disappoint!

Tables and chairs were packed into the parish hall which still only just managed to hold the huge audience number. A free glass of bubbly waited for us by the door and a variety of nibbles were laid out on each of the tables. The front of the hall was lit beautifully and created a spotlight on the grand piano whose keys were being tinkled by Dave (who also later delighted us with two songs) as we all found our seats and waited for the singers to take to the stage. 

The evening hosted an eclectic mix of vocal performances, each one wonderfully told and beautifully sung. Lots of show tunes made an appearance, from the well-known, such as ‘Something’s Coming’ from West Side Story and ‘There are worst things I could do’ from Grease, to the less familiar ‘Gorgeous’ from The Apple Tree and ‘Sunday in the Park with George’.  Several timeless classics, a few film soundtracks and a moving arrangement of ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen completed the line-up of solo and small ensemble pieces. We also had the pleasure of hearing from members of the brilliant Youth Choir who gave mature and sensitive renditions of ‘Rule the world’ and ‘Dream a little dream of me’. Interspersed between these acts were group numbers sung by the whole Choir which included a very lively version of ‘Old MacDonald’ and finished the evening with the serene ‘Close to you’.

Not only were the members of the Choir providing our entertainment for the evening, they also doubled up as our waiters and waitresses, topping up glasses and bringing out a selection of canapés including scones with jam and cream to finish! Every member of the choir was thoughtful and attentive while each taking their turn to give us a whole range of hilarious, touching, upbeat and thoughtful 
performances. 

One necessity for the evening was some musical accompaniment for all of the singers and the seemingly effortless skills of Alex Patterson and Nick Milburn brought the whole occasion together.

None of this would have been possible without Alex and Ellie who, alongside various members of the Choir, organised a spectacular event which ran smoothly and had an informal and relaxed atmosphere throughout. All in aid of the Choir’s recent trip to Lourdes, this magical evening was entertaining to watch and a joy to listen to. Thank you Alex, Ellie and the entire Choir, see you for the next one in February!

After their much-deserved summer break, the Cathedral Choir returned to sing 11.15am Mass a few weeks earlier than intended. This was to say thank you and farewell to Robert Gower, who stepped down as Cathedral Organist to take up a new post in Berwick upon Tweed, where he and his lovely wife Pauline are relocating. 

Robert joined the Cathedral Music Team back in June 2014 when I took over from Neil Page as Director of Music. I had just turned 26 and, as Robert liked to tell people, he was the inverse age, and it was the start of a very interesting journey as we began to explore how to unleash the potential of the Music Department. ​

It’s rather humbling to look back to see what has been achieved in the last five years – none of which would have been possible without the support and expertise of Robert. There are events like the first contemporary performance of John Carol Case’s Requiem for an Unknown Soldier, which we gave back in 2015 on Remembrance Sunday, and which Robert was responsible for editing for publication. As well as introducing me to a whole range of neglected motets and indeed the Gretchaninoff Missa Festiva, now a staple of our repertoire, Robert also provided a catalogue of descants and arrangements of carols, and began writing a complete 3-year cycle of responsorial psalms (which 
he completed in June 2019). His imaginative hymn accompaniment and extemporisations transformed our animation of the liturgy and he has certainly given us all an education in the variety of organ music which he played at Mass. It’s no secret that pieces we heard on a Sunday would be arrangements or editions he was working on for new organ compilation albums for Oxford University Press, and indeed, the latest ‘Ceremonial Organ Music Book 2’ published last month features a whole range of music that was first heard here in Nottingham over the last year, whether we realised it at the time or not.

​I am indebted to Robert for many things but am extremely grateful for his dedication and outstanding musicianship which he has shown throughout his tenure. His experience and expertise has directly shaped the evolution of the Music Department over the last five years and we will certainly miss him. I’m glad that our paths will still cross as trustees of the Finzi Trust.

The music for Robert’s last Mass with us on Sunday 25 August was a very deliberate selection by Robert himself, including the Missa Festiva by Gretchaninoff, the first performance of Robert’s new arrangement of Dora Pejačević’s Ave Maria, and my own setting of the hymn Brother, sister, let me serve you, which included some very pertinent reminders – ‘when you laugh, I’ll laugh with you’.

The opportunity to attend my first ever Hymnathon courtesy of Nottingham Cathedral was irresistible: 18th May 2019 is in my diary as a full day of joy, thinking about the ‘why’ in each hymn. Alex, Ellie and their relay teams of singers, organists and instrumentalists provided a fabulous ‘Cook’s Tour’ through hymns ancient, modern and revised, with most of the long-established favourites along with many (for me) new, previously undiscovered gems, such as ‘It is well with my soul’. 

The selection ranged from the rich Victorian harmonies through to the rock’n’roll, ‘happy clappy’ modernist evangelical. 

The format of the day was great: The daytime sessions consisted of several ‘Juke Box hymn collections’, where punters like myself were free to request their favourites for a suitable contribution to the Choir Lourdes fund, either at the time or via online ‘advanced sponsorship’. These were interspersed with related organ interludes from the organists including Robert Gower and Peter Siepmann, and some simply stunning a cappella quartet slots – ‘Amazing Grace’ sung by Alex, Ellie and two of their choir scholars was simply delicious!

The ‘a cappella’ treatment of several hymns, such as ‘Love Divine, all hopes excelling’ with just 4 singers, allowed the full richness of the 4-part harmony to be heard and appreciated. So much of this can be drowned when the organ is used to support, lead or deafen! ‘Panis Angelicus’ sung a cappella by the quartet was like liquid gold.  Several of the choir slots included superb descant verses, with the final verse of ‘Crown Him with many crowns’ standing out. Ellie’s Youth Choir really proved their worth, with some very young children singing their hearts out and clearly uplifted by their immersive 
experience. My only disappointment was that the Cathedral was not packed with hymn-lovers throughout the afternoon; the musicians and the music were worthy and deserving of more support. 

The evening event made up for this, with the Cathedral well-filled with an appreciative audience, the congregation swelling the sounds of the choir for the ‘participation’ hymns to make a glorious sound, supported by the addition of singers from local choirs. To hear many hundreds of voices uplifted in harmony to the glory of God, and be surrounded by that sea of sound, has to be one of the great experiences of Christian worship.

The end result – I understand the event raised a useful sum towards the Choir trip to Lourdes. My ‘discretionary spend’ budget for the quarter was exceeded and I was hoarse for at least a week (about the same recovery time as my legs needed from my last marathon). Many participants will, like myself, now be aware of other musical gems in the hymn repertoire, and I would like to think that the event allowed many participants to think about the meanings of the lyrics in many of the hymns – the ‘why’ we believe.

Download a copy of the Gala Concert Programme, which included music by W. A. Mozart, Alex Patterson, and Stormzy.

To open the concert, the large and supportive audience of family, friends, parishioners and Cathedral clergy were treated to a range of individual items to open the concert. The girls’ group Vivace sang a beautiful arrangement of ‘Dream a little dream of me’ with musical sensitivity, whilst boys’ group Cambiata’s moving performance of the spiritual ‘Steal away’ created a prayerful sense of calm. Several solo instrumental and vocal items followed, including the piano works Raindrop Prelude by Chopin, JS Bach’s Gigue in G major, an arrangement for oboe of Fauré’s Après un rêve, and a piano arrangement of Alice the camel, which was played with confidence and enthusiasm by one of the Youth Choir’s youngest members.

Following a brief interval, the Youth Choir gathered to perform Captain Noah and his floating zoo. Written in 1970 by Joseph Horowitz, with often humorous lyrics by Michael Flanders, this cantata retells the story of Noah from Genesis chapters 6 – 9.  The choir clearly enjoyed performing this and made the challenging music sound easy (I’m assured by Youth Choir Director Ellie Martin that it’s not!). The harmonisations, tricky rhythmic phrases and at times demanding tempo were tackled with confidence, and the singers responded sensitively to the mood of the music and were attentive to their (very accomplished!) pianist, and to Ellie’s direction. Every word was crisply enunciated and clearly audible,  and the singers captured the mood of the music brilliantly. As the monotonous drumming of the rain petered out, the younger members went happily ‘running down the gangplank’ and the singers joyfully announced the appearance of the rainbow and God’s promise never to send another flood in the uplifting final waltz.

This collective team effort from the Youth Choir, its Director Ellie, rehearsal pianist Eden, and accompanist for the concert, Michael Martin, contributed to an engaging performance of a very high standard.  As a parent of a ‘retiring’ member of the Youth Choir it was lovely to see, once again, the choir members’ enjoyment in singing together, the joy they bring to others and the strength and enthusiasm with which they contribute to the musical life of the Cathedral.

I remember a conversation a couple of years ago with our then Cathedral Dean, Canon Geoffrey Hunton, who admitted it was a dream of his that one year the Cathedral Choir would join the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. I was very much interested in the idea and 2019 felt like the right time to do it – celebrating the joint 175th anniversaries of both our Cathedral Church and the birth of St Bernadette. Once Ellie Martin had joined the music department, it became clear that opening up the opportunity to our Youth Choir members was a vital part of the trip, and so began a long period of planning, organising and, ultimately, a huge amount of fundraising, in order to make the trip happen.

Followers of our work will be well aware of the range of events that have taken place specifically to raise funds for the trip – from our Hymnathon in May (a logistical minefield in itself!) and our Cabaret Evening in June, to a whole host of cake sales, tombolas, recitals, carolling, and more concerts. The support from the Cathedral community has been incredibly heart-warming, and knowing we had such support from the home team as we made our journey to Lourdes was a huge relief. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to all those who donated towards the costs of this trip and we hope that the accounts from those who were there and experienced it first hand will be a testament to how 
important this trip was for so many people.

Putting a tour together like this doesn’t come without a lot of hard work, energy, patience and teamwork. The support of Pilgrimage Director, Fr Gregory Tobin, and Assistant Director, Fr Simon Gillespie, was integral to the success of the liturgies in Lourdes. I spent a lot of time with Fr Simon to work through the musical choices, compose new psalm settings, and select a huge variety of music. The support of the Diocesan Safeguarding Team and the tireless efforts of Ellie Martin in ensuring the safety of all on the trip cannot be overstated. We are grateful too for the support of Lisa Mackenzie and Hannah Whelan throughout the tour in helping to look after our tour members.

We are particularly grateful for the support of John-Charles Tanner, a relatively new parishioner to the Cathedral, who just happened to be close friends with Alain Cherel, the celebrated trumpeter of the Sanctuary at Lourdes. John-Charles was able to act as a conduit between Alex (who speaks very little French) and Alain (who speaks very little English), to facilitate showcasing the choir at the Marian Procession, Eucharistic Procession and International Mass. He was also responsible for arranging our concerts in Abbatiale de Saint-Savin and l'Eglise Saint Jean, Tarbes, for saving the day after hearing the news about Notre-Dame and enabling us to sing Mass at La Madeleine. His support and encouragement throughout the process (including shaking our blue donation buckets at Sunday Recitals) has been crucial to the tour and we are so grateful for all his help. 

As Director of Music, it’s always good to see that the choir’s work is being recognised as an integral part of the Cathedral and wider Diocesan mission. The relationship between the two seemed to be so intrinsically linked throughout the Pilgrimage. To see members of the Cathedral congregation, wider Diocesan pilgrims, and pilgrims from all over the world visibly moved by what we were doing (such as singing hymns for pilgrims outside the Baths), beaming with pride (as we sang Bruckner’s Ave Maria at the Marian Procession, or singing throughout the International Mass), or in quiet contemplation (during the Reconciliation Service), felt like a huge validation for the work we do, not just as part of the Lourdes experience, but back at home on a weekly basis. The support of Bishop Patrick throughout the trip, alongside other Nottingham pilgrims, at our concert in l'Eglise Saint Jean, Tarbes, was a particular highlight. 

We are blessed by such a wonderful community, which has been enriched, and relationships deepened, as a result of this experience. I cannot thank you all enough for the role you’ve played in making it happen.

There is always some sense of trepidation before embarking on the mammoth task of organising, fundraising and going on any choir tour, and our tour to Lourdes and Paris was no different. This was heightened even further by the fact that this year was the Cathedral’s 175th anniversary and the first time that the Choir has visited Lourdes. For me, however, it was the perfect way to round off my first year at university and my first year as a choral scholar at St Barnabas.

A few hours before flying to Lourdes we embarked on learning some of the varied and often technically challenging music. We constantly refreshed and revisited this music throughout the week, meaning that by the end it felt much more familiar than it had at the start. Musically, the highlights for me included Tavener’s ‘Mother of God Here I Stand’ and Durufle’s ‘Ubi Caritas’. It was also very 
special to sing the ‘Mass of St Barnabas’ which was written specially for the Cathedral’s 175th anniversary by our Director of Music, Alex Patterson, and felt like we were bringing a piece of Nottingham over the channel to Lourdes.

I found that one of the best things about the tour in Lourdes was the variety of locations and services we had the opportunity to sing at - from the International Mass, where thousands of people from all over the world joined together and we heard mass sung in six different languages, to singing for only a few people at the Baths. The reception everywhere we sang in the Sanctuary of Lourdes was excellent and I felt really lucky to positively impact people’s time of worship in Lourdes. Every place we sang offered its own unique atmosphere, but the Marian Procession was unlike anywhere I’ve ever sung before. Thousands of people processing with their candles made it extremely atmospheric, especially when hearing everyone sing the Ave Maria.

We were lucky enough to do two concerts during our time in Lourdes, as well as singing all day within the Sanctuary. The two venues for our concerts, Abbatiale de Saint-Savin and l'Eglise Saint Jean, could not have been more juxtaposed from one another. Nevertheless, receiving a brilliant reception in both places made the hard work worth it. Furthermore, the support from members of the Nottingham Diocese who were on the pilgrimage really added to the tour experience. It was great to add something extra to their experience of Lourdes and it was lovely to hear how much it had influenced them.

After a long train journey on the Friday we had a definite change of pace when we arrived in Paris. Having never been to Paris before I was really excited to explore the city and to sing in some incredible venues. La Madeleine and St Eustache both lived up to and exceeded expectations, and were very different from the more intimate venues in Lourdes. We also had the chance to go and see the Notre-Dame Cathedral and to sing outside. Whilst tinged with sadness, I felt so lucky to be able to see a world landmark and sing the French ‘Hymne à la Vierge’ outside. We rounded off the tour with a group meal; it was lovely to have the whole choir together and reflect on what had been a jam-packed but unforgettable week.

Although the music was the focal point of this tour, the chance to spend time with the friends I’ve made from the Cathedral Choir this year and to get to know the Youth Choir better was also a massive highlight. I’m really pleased to be coming back next year and can’t wait for more tours in the future. Thank you to Alex and Ellie for organising such a fantastic tour!

Our son Benjamin is a new member of the Youth Choir, joining in January 2019. Everyone has been very welcoming, and we were really pleased when Benjamin was invited on the Lourdes-Paris trip. Benjamin was keen to go, as the choir were going to sing at Notre-Dame and we thought it would be a lovely opportunity for us to visit Paris ahead of the choir and do some sightseeing. Then on 15th April, we all received the tragic news that Notre-Dame was on fire. Singing in Notre-Dame was off, but the Choir would still sing in Paris.

The 14th July arrived quickly, and we waved the choir bon voyage on their journey to Lourdes. It was great to see and hear the choir on the Lourdes YouTube channel. They sounded fantastic. We arrived in Paris on 17th July. Our apartment was in the 5th Arondissement, near Rue Moffetard, which is full of food shops, cafes and restaurants.We bought a Paris museum pass and visited lots of art galleries. We love our son, but it was refreshing not to have a 15-year-old with us saying how bored he was!

The choir arrived on Friday 19th July. We had a couple of hours with Benjamin and heard all about singing in the International Mass in front of 5,000 people and how well the choir had been received at a couple of concerts outside of Lourdes.  On the Saturday morning we met up with the choir near Notre-Dame. They may not have been able to sing in Notre-Dame, but they performed two songs outside it and were well received by all the tourists (including a good number of parents who had also decided to visit Paris).  

The choir sang at two masses over the weekend, firstly, on Saturday evening at Saint Eustache, which is a very impressive gothic style church. It houses the largest organ in France and Mozart held his mother’s funeral here. The choir sang really well, but due to the height of the church their sound was slightly lost. The second mass, on Sunday morning, was at La Madeleine. This church was originally built as a temple of glory for Napoleon’s armies. At one point it was going to be a railway station and finally in 1842 it was consecrated as a church. The acoustics here were great and the choir sounded fantastic. They were accompanied by a countertenor cantor who had a very unique voice. La Madeleine also has a famous organ, and  Gabriel Fauré was an organist here. The organ was very loud and electrifying.  

Our time in Paris was over. We said our goodbyes and raced back to Nottingham via the Eurostar ahead of the Choir. Huge thanks needs to be given to Alex, Ellie, Hannah and Lisa for leading the Choir and looking after everyone. I’m sure it was very tiring for them, but they enabled all the young people to have experiences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Benjamin had a great time and is still talking about the music, all the places where the choir performed and the people he sang with.  

Merci beaucoup.​

My tour to Lourdes and Paris was fabulous. Apart from all the late nights and then waking up early, it was so fun and a great experience. My favourite parts of the trip to Lourdes were the international mass, the garden party, and the concerts. 

In Paris, we mainly only had free time, and I enjoyed visiting the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre Museum. We took many pictures and got a small tan.

I hope we can fundraise enough to go every year. As well as us enjoying the trip, the people who got the experience of listening to us appreciated it thoroughly as well. We even had a couple who put in 20 euros and then swapped it with 50 euros at our concert. 

As well as having this experience, I also got to know everyone more and grow stronger faithfully.

The annual pilgrimage to Lourdes is a significant event in the life of the Diocese of Nottingham.
 
This year as usual three hundred people from across the Diocese made the pilgrimage by air, coach and train.
 
Lourdes can and does evoke several emotions; this year was no exception.
 
Amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy five-day pilgrimage there was I felt amongst our pilgrims a great sense of calm and an entering into of the spirit of Lourdes – of oneness with each other, the Lord and his Blessed Mother.
 
Why was that?   I will leave the reader to come to their own conclusion.

Music is vital in our lives.

It can set the mood, raise morale and draw people together. On our Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes, we rely heavily on musicians to assist all pilgrims as we journey through life with the pains and loads that are ours.

This year we were blessed on our pilgrimage to have with us the Cathedral Choir of St Barnabas under the leadership of Alex Patterson. 

During the preparation for this years pilgrimage Alex went to Lourdes with the Directorate to visit the Churches, Basilicas and the sacred Grotto where the choir would be singing. These few days during February, which coincided with the Feast day (February 11th) of Our Lady of Lourdes, also gave Alex the opportunity to meet the Sanctuary leads on liturgy and music, including the trumpet player who dovetails beautifully with the organ for the big occasions. In a previous life Fr Simon Gillespie spent a lot of time at the Cathedral, and so is very familiar with the personnel, including the Cathedral Choir. He was therefore able to co-ordinate the travel arrangements, accommodation and programme, together with the endless paperwork and T-shirts, which are a must for a journey of this kind.

Our first Mass was outside in the autel de l’esplanade adjacent to the rosary square, so very difficult with the acoustics, but we knew the choir would attract a lot of attention as people crossing the square were drawn over by the quality of the singing.

The following day (Tuesday) a certain sensitivity was needed with the anointing of the sick and the reconciliation service.

Every Wednesday in Lourdes we have an international Mass in the underground basilica (capacity 25,000) with all the pilgrimages in Lourdes at that time from the world over, coming together liturgically. The choir were resplendent as part of the larger Basilica choir and were given the opportunity to sing a motet. All 269 pilgrims from Nottingham were bursting with pride!

Each evening at 9pm there is torchlight procession for an hour. It is a spectacular occasion with the candles, thousands of people and of course the music, which is amplified around the domain. During our pilgrimage we participated twice in the torchlight procession and led it on the Wednesday. The choir took a lead with the Sanctuary leads, and again were give the opportunity to sing an impressive solo piece.

Our garden party gave everyone the opportunity to share their party piece in a sunny relaxed venue. How lovely to see and hear the choir sing some witty ditties to great effect. A nice change from the formal fare.

A concert in a local abbey was enjoyed by all who made the journey up the mountain and was an ideal foretaste for what was to come in Paris.

You expect the Cathedral Choir to be technically perfect and professional in their delivery. What I enjoyed was the moments between the musical performances when the members were just part of the Nottingham pilgrimage engaging with the sick and lifting their spirits.

Music is indeed vital to our lives. The presence of the Cathedral Choir on this year’s Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes brought musical perfection and beauty in a place that challenges us all to excel in all that we do.

How did you first become involved with the Cathedral?

Amusingly, I originally intended to join just one choir upon coming to University to keep my interest in singing ‘ticking over’. This very quickly became five and is now the focus of my life. I heard through the grapevine in University of Nottingham’s Music Department that the Cathedral was looking for choral scholars. I had imagined either that places would no longer be available after the start of term or that I would not be at the required standard, but luckily being an (almost) tenor can do you a lot of favours where skill might be lacking.

What did you get out of your experience with us?

I developed an interest in conducting around the same time I came to University. I managed to secure a couple of conducting opportunities with choirs during my first year, the summer of which Alex introduced me to the Association of British Choral Directors. I had a number of lessons and met many useful contacts at their summer convention, which led to Alex offering me the position of Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral. I continued to sing with the Cathedral Choir, but was also given opportunities to conduct them, both in rehearsals and services. Since the Cathedral Choir were the most capable singers I had stood in front of at that point, imposter syndrome was at a high and confidence was at a low. The challenges I faced were compounded by having to simultaneously learn how to collaborate effectively with an accompanist. In conjunction with my ongoing piano studies, Robert kindly taught me the organ during my first year, so I knew enough about the instrument to have a head start in this area at least.

During this time, I also became involved in the running of the Youth Choir. I conducted them to begin with, but once Ellie joined us I accompanied from the piano instead while she led from the front. This adventure brought with it more new challenges: crowd control, the need to be even more engaging, and the requirement to explain complicated things simply, to name a few. I found working with younger people to be rewarding in a way that was slightly different to the satisfaction I derived from working with adults. 

While it is probably my weaker suit, the experience certainly helped me figure out what exactly my career focusses will be and I have continued to enjoy working with the Youth Choir and seeing them thrive under Ellie’s leadership.

I am still stunned by the extent to which the Cathedral facilitated my education across so many fields (and even paid me for the pleasure). I have intended to pursue choral conducting as a career since that summer of my first year, and every experience the Cathedral has led me through has complemented this ambition. I will be forever grateful to the Cathedral’s Music Department, its sponsors, and the community we are all part of, for their support.

What have been your highlights?

The large scale concerts we have put on really stand out in my memory. One of the reasons I believe the Cathedral to be such a special place is the manner in which it unites the community through music. For instance, collaborating with the Youth Choir, children from the diocese, and Streetwise Opera in last summer’s production of Tobias and the Angel was a poignant experience and, for me, summarises what music is all about.

What other musical experiences have you had outside of the Cathedral?

External highlights include conducting the University Music Society’s chamber choir and symphony orchestra, holding a conducting assistantship for the University’s choral society and chamber choir, and being one of the lucky few who were flown out to Malaysia for the Tri-campus Arts Festival in the summer of 2016. I also write, record, and produce pop music as an ongoing hobby.

What does the future hold?

I am starting a two-year MA in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music this September with a partial scholarship and hope to enjoy quite a varied career afterwards. I have always felt called to education, but another of my aims is to found and conduct a professional chamber choir.

Following the successful ‘Big Sing’ last summer, our partnership with the Nottingham Music Service (the lead organisation for Nottingham Music Hub) has continued to flourish through a range of projects and new initatives. 

Last Autumn, Ellie and Alex worked in 22 schools to prepare young singers for two ‘Christmas in the City’ concerts, which took place in Nottingham’s Albert Hall and the Royal Concert Hall. These concerts included performances from the Hub’s Area Bands, the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra, and Sing City winners. Led by Alex and Ellie, the massed primary choir gave rousing renditions of Santa Claus is coming to town and Avicii’s Hey Brother, and the massed secondary choir delighted us with The Beach Boys’ God only knows. The two choirs joined together for a heart-warming performance of Sing, written by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and an a cappella Zulu lullaby, Thula Mama, both of which featured audience participation taught by Ellie during the concert. 

Discussions with colleagues at the Music Service quickly unearthed the desire to have a Hub choir and it was decided that there was enough enthusiasm in the room to make it happen. The Robin Hood Youth Choir was formed in January and has got off to a flying start. Led by Alex and Ellie, rehearsals are on Wednesdays at 4.30pm-5.30pm in Cathedral Hall (during term time). It’s free and open to 8-18 year olds, and there are no auditions.

We have continued to work with the Music Service this last term in helping prepare young children for the Hub’s annual Great Orchestra Experiment. This event provides an opportunity for children, many of whom have never attended a live performance, to see an orchestra play and to participate with high quality musicians. These young people (usually in Year 4) will have been learning a musical instrument as a class through Whole Class Ensemble Teaching or ‘In Harmony’ programmes run by the Hub. They are brought together to experience a whole range of orchestral music presented in a theatrical and engaging way. This year’s programme included Berlioz’s March to the Scaffold, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and John Powell’s music from the film, How to train your dragon. The young people were also treated to performances by the Villiers String Quartet, which included music by composer Elizabeth Kelly, Professor of Composition at the University of Nottingham, who was present on the day too. Part of the success of the event is that young people get to play their instrument (which they’ll only have been learning for a few months) on stage with the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra. Alex and Ellie’s role was to help the children get up to scratch with the vocal parts so they could sing along with the orchestra too!

Over 1,400 children took part across two concerts held at the Albert Hall on Wednesday 27 March. The aim of these projects is to enthuse and inspire these young people, sparking a curiosity about music in them that will hopefully develop into a life-long love, both as audience members and participants.