NEWS BRIEFS

Full Cathedral for annual Cork Christmas Concert

St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Choir in Cork held its annual Christmas Concert on Saturday 14th December. The event was sold out and had been for several weeks in advance.

The audience was treated to a selection of old favourites and less well–known carols, all sung by the boys, girls and adults of the choir, a total of almost 50 voices. Silent night, in a five–part arrangement by Director of Music Peter Stobart, was one of the more well known carols, whilst Adam lay y bounden by Howard Skempton and two carols by Richard Rodney Bennett added a 20th and 21st century flavour to the evening.

Solos were sung by boy choristers Dylan Stapleton (Away in a manger) and Louis McDonald (Once in royal David’s city) and tenor Andrew Boushell sang a verse of Harold Darke’s In the bleak mid–winter.

The audience, having had their fill of mulled wine and mince pies, were encouraged to join in with the Hark the herald angels sing to round off the evening.

Dublin mayor supports Black Santa neighbour

Lord Mayor Paul McAuliffe makes a generous donation to the Black Santa Appeal with Canon David Gillespie and Fred Deane.

Disestablishment 150 Lecture Series in Christ Church Cathedral

Dublin & Glendalough’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland will get underway in January 2020 with a series of lunchtime lectures in Christ Church Cathedral.

Entitled ‘Perspectives on 150 Years of the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland’, the lectures will take place on Fridays throughout January starting at 1.15pm in the Music Room. Admission is free and all are welcome.

The series begins on Friday January 10 when Mary E Daly, Emerita Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD, will speak on the subject: A Perspective from Gladstone & the British Government. A perspective on Disestablishment from outside Ireland will be offered on January 17 (speaker to be confirmed). On Friday January 24 the speaker will be Colin Barr of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, who will offer a perspective from the Roman Catholic Church. On Friday January 31 the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, will provide a perspective from the Church of Ireland.

Down & Dromore Episcopal installations date changes

Please note that the changes of date for the new Bishop’s services of installation. They are now:
Dromore Cathedral on Sunday 9 February at 3.30 pm
Down Cathedral on Sunday 16 February at 3.30 pm.

R is for…Ripon

Friends of Cathedral Music wentf to Yorkshire, to visit Ripon Cathedral. The cathedral can trace its roots back to 672AD, when St Wilfrid, then abbot of the monastery at Ripon build a stone basilica with a crypt in the style of buildings he had seen in Rome. The cathedral above ground has been rebuilt several times but the crypt survives, making Ripon the oldest structure of any English cathedral.

St Wilfrid brought a choir from Canterbury Cathedral when he came to Ripon, and the choir has been making music in the cathedral ever since.

The cathedral choir is made up of boys and girls (aged 8 – 13) and six lay clerks. The boys and girls attend a variety of local schools. The cathedral also has a junior choir for children aged 6 to 9 and a youth choir, Unity Voice, for young people aged 12 to 18.

FCM has been pleased to help Ripon Cathedral with a Small Revenue Grant.

Director of Music, Andrew Bryden said:

The grant has enabled us to renew some of the choir’s robes, thus meaning that choristers have robes that aren’t too big or small, and therefore they don’t spend all the time tripping over them when processing because they are too long, or being unable to breathe when they sing as they are too tight.

(https://fcm.org.uk/news/r-is-for-ripon/)