Choral Evensong at Gloucester Cathedral

Following on from last year’s inaugural event in Worcester Cathedral, the combined chamber choirs of King’s Gloucester, King’s Worcester and Hereford Cathedral School joined forces once again to sing Choral Evensong, this time in Gloucester Cathedral.

For over 300 years, the cathedral choirs, including each school’s choristers, have joined forces in the Three Choirs Festival, which is held each year in July, with each city taking its turn to host. The three schools have a lot in common, most notably the fact that all three are Cathedral Choir Schools, and this new initiative enables us to collaborate on an annual basis and share our love of music.

On arrival at the Cathedral, we were given a very warm welcome by one of the voluntary Chaplains, Martin Loveless (CR 54-64), who happens to be an Old Vigornian! He spoke to the Choir briefly about his memories of KSW, before the pupils had a chance to explore the Cathedral, including the stunning medieval cloisters, home in the 2000s to the crew and cast of the Harry Potter films. The Cathedral was cold, very cold!  The heating had not been working in the building since before Christmas and all pupils were wrapped up warm for the rehearsal in the Nave of the Cathedral, which has one of the finest church acoustics in the country.

John Pennington, Director of Music at King’s Gloucester directed the Choir for this service.  The music chosen was well-known by the pupils and included the Canticles written by Herbert Brewer, Organist at Gloucester Cathedral at the beginning of the 20^th Century. The Anthem was Vaughan Williams’ Let all the World in every corner sing, which received its world premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester in 1911. After the service the school provided a warm reception for pupils and members of the congregation.

Lower Remove Music Scholar, Belinda P added, “It was a wonderful experience, singing with other like-minded pupils across three different cathedral schools and appreciating music in a place that has centuries of history surrounded by such beautiful architecture.”

We look forward to joining forces again in Hereford next year.