St Albans Abbey, Saturday 13th March 2010

The 2010 Diocesan Choirs Festival will be held a couple of months earlier than is usual, on Saturday 13th March, so it is not too soon to get the date into the diary.

Your Area Committee has been giving this festival a lot of thought; in particular, what form it should take. Choral Evensong has been the default since the event was inaugurated and - although this might seem a radical departure - next year it will instead take the form of a Choral Eucharist.

It has been getting progressively more difficult to find music that has not already been sung at Evensong and, as the Eucharist forms the main act of Sunday worship in churches up and down the country, it was felt we should now focus on this. (Choral Evensong buffs will be pleased to hear we have not forgotten you - Regional Evensongs are still very much on the agenda.)

RSCM Bishop's and Dean's Awards will be presented as usual at the service.

The Venue will once again be the nave of St Albans Abbey, and we are very pleased that Andrew Lucas has agreed to conduct, with Tom Winpenny playing the organ. We have worked hard at finding music that is accessible to choirs with very different levels of proficiency. The service is on the Eve of Mothering Sunday, so we will be using a predominantly Marian theme.

The Mass setting will probably be unknown to most folk. It is Malcolm Archer's Missae Omnes Sancti and is very approachable. Choirs of modest resources should find it a useful addition to their repertoire. Stylistically, if you think Louis Vierne, you will not be far off the mark. It may seem odd to include a Magnificat during a celebration of the Eucharist, but this is appropriate given the Mothering Sunday link. We shall be using the setting by Herbert Sumsion in D as a final anthem. This was originally written for upper voices, but the composer later arranged it for SATB so it may well be new to you. It is only of moderate difficulty. The Nunc Dimittis will also be included in the service book, even though we will not be singing it, to maximise its subsequent usefulness.

Introit, Gradual Psalm, Creed and hymns (plus descants) etc will also feature and RSCM Diocesan award holders will be asked to join forces with the Abbey Girls choir to sing the communion anthem ( O mysterium ineffabile by J. F. Lallouette).

Check-in time for the afternoon rehearsal will be 13:45, with the service itself starting at 4:30pm. The event should be done and dusted by 18:00 at the latest.

Regional rehearsals will once again feature in the overall scheme, and the dates and venues for these have already been chosen. They will be held on consecutive evenings 25-27 January at Goldington St. Mary's, Hitchin St. Mary's and St. Albans St. Saviour, respectively, from 19.45 - 21.00. A separate rehearsal for younger choristers who would prefer an afternoon time will be held on Sunday February 7th at Hitchin St. Mary's for Sunday February 7 from 14.30 - 16.30, depending on demand.

The cost of participation has been kept to a minimum to make the event as affordable as possible. We believe the booklet containing the music represents extremely good value for money, and should prove to be a useful resource for many years to come.

This is shaping up to be a really exciting event, and we hope to see as many choristers taking part as possible.

Any unavoidable changes to the schedule will be communicated as soon as possible via this website.

The fee payable for this event is £6.75 per chorister and cheques should be made out to 'RSCM Diocese of St. Albans'. The closing date is Sunday 10th January 2010.

N.B. If you are confused as to exactly what this event is, please see the page Diocesan Choirs Festival: Q&A where many of your questions may be answered.