British Choir Festival Interview Series

"As much as it is a military and economic superpower, England has always been an artistic, even choral, superpower. You don't have to be an Anglophile to appreciate that England has produced one of the world's richest choral traditions." - Mickey Butts, San Francisco Classical Voice

To honor this tradition, the Cathedral Choral Society proudly presents an annual British Choir Festival at Washington National Cathedral. The first official festival took place in 1986, when the Laura E. Phillips endowment for the festival was created. 

This year, we are so pleased to host the Saint Thomas and New College Choirs for British Choir Festival - 2010! In the weeks leading up to the festival on April 18th, we will feature a brief interview with past and present members of each choir to discuss what the tradition means to them and where it all started.

Today's interview features Matthew Brown, a UK native. Mr. Brown has been singing in the Anglican tradition since childhood.  He now resides in New York City, and sings with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys as a countertenor.

How/when did you begin singing?

I played violin from an early age, and could read music and hold a line, so I joined the school choir when I was ten. I joined my first church choir at Saint Margaret's, Westminster shortly thereafter (as a treble).

What does singing in this British Anglican tradition mean to you?

It means singing beautiful music with talented musicians, and giving long-dead composers eternal life through the performance of their music.

What does the choir bring to your understanding of yourself as a singer?

It helps me listen to others; to understand the importance of working in an ensemble for one's own musical development.

What are the best parts of singing with your choir?

Singing in the amazing space at Saint Thomas Church and the feeling of pride when singing to a packed crowd.

What is it like to come together with other similar choirs to sing in this Festival?

It's amazing to sing with other choirs, and to quickly adapt to new conductors. It also gives us the opportunity to sing Spem in Alium, which would be impossible with just one choir.

What is your favorite thing about Washington National Cathedral?

The sense of space, the mix of the modern and the traditional, the smell of history in the air.

Did you have your Raisin Brahms today???

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Final Lenten Series Concert - Washington National Cathedral

20th Century France: Durufle Requiem

• Tickets: $20-$40.
• Buy tickets now

Come to the Cathedral and join us for the fourth and final concert in the series of Lenten Concerts given by the National Cathedral’s concert ensemble, Cathedra. Twentieth-century France produced as rich a seam of liturgical music as has been seen in the history of western music. Arguably two of its giants were Francis Poulenc and Maurice Duruflé. In tonight’s program we hear the Four Lenten Motets of Poulenc and his unaccompanied Mass. The series closes with Durufle’s sublime Requiem, using his first edition with string orchestra and organ.

Poulenc composed music that reflects that fervent Catholicism of his paternal side and the provocative artistic heritage of his mother’s family. In the Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, the former shines through. Although Poulenc’s inventive use of harmony and rhythm are far from conservative, his choice of texts and the intensity of their settings are unequaled. The Mass in G, on the other hand, plays more with musical texture and color, employing the singers like instruments, rather than striving toward the text painting achievements of his motets.

Duruflé’s Requiem ranks among the most beloved pieces in the Washington National Cathedral Choir’s repertoire. The precise counterpoint of the Kyrie, the ecstatic climaxes of the Domine Jesu Christe and Sanctus, and the powerful restraint of the solo Pie Jesu are a breathtaking sequence of musical events. The angelic conclusion of the In Paradisum transports the listener and singer alike into a higher realm of consciousness.

Washington Post Review

In performance: St. Matthew Passion

Web-only review:

Cathedral Choral Society: sublime Passion
by Cecelia Porter
A sublime performance of sublime music does not come along every day. But it did on Sunday at Washington National Cathedral, when J. Reilly Lewis conducted the Cathedral Choral Society and Orchestra, along with the Cathedral Choristers and stellar vocal and instrumental soloists, in J.S. Bach's epic "St. Matthew Passion." A portrayal of the impelling events leading up to the Crucifixion, the "St. Matthew" is a three-hour-long drama of realism as wrought with conflicting emotions as Shakespeare's "Macbeth" or Wagner's "Ring" cycle. The libretto combines scriptural accounts with Bach's personal choice of other texts according to the Lutheran tradition of his day.
(read more after the jump)
Bach demands impossibly Olympic standards of performers, such as assigning wind players extended melodic lines and singers never-ending solo passages on just one syllable -- without time to breathe. But in Sunday's performance, everyone met the technical challenges with seeming ease. Chorus and soloists also rendered Bach's text with German consonants and vowels unblemished by English pronunciation, intensifying the cutting edge of a story pitting violence and guilt against compassion.
Lewis's every motion drew from his forces the tumultuous scenario of individual remorse, screaming multitudes, even the thunder and lightning of nature's fury. As the Evangelist, Rufus Müller narrated the shattering story with both overwhelming vocal magnitude and telling physical bearing. Likewise, the other soloists coupled vocal excellence with dramatic gestures. Portraying their roles with deep conviction were soloists Christòpheren Nomura, Gillian Keith, Clare Wilkinson, Alan Bennett and Craig Phillips.
As Sunday's performance ended, the audience delayed applause for a few moments. That told it all.
-- Cecelia Porter
By Anne Midgette  |  February 23, 2010; 5:00 AM ET

Bach's St. Matthew Passion Concert Weekend

ST. MATTHEW PASSION (BWV 244)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 4 pm

Tickets starting at $20

BUY TICKETS HERE

 

Profoundly religious yet intimate in its expression of
human feeling, the  St. Matthew Passion tells of the days
leading to the Crucifixion as the music arcs from the exultant
to the tragic, sweeping the listener into the drama.

Cathedral Choral Society

J. Reilly Lewis, conductor

Rufus Müller, Evangelist

Christòpheren Nomura, Christus

Gillian Keith, soprano

Clare Wilkinson, mezzo-soprano

Alan Bennett, tenor

Craig Phillips, bass-baritone

Washington National Cathedral Choristers

Michael McCarthy, music director

Join us at 2:30 pm for a free pre-concert discussion in Perry Auditorium (7th Floor of the Cathedral) with Michael McCarthy, Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral.

Katherine of Tarragon Announces Retirement

Ernest Hemingway once said, "What greater gift than the love of a cat?"

Anyone who ever entered the Cathedral's greenhouse and library has experienced such love. A memorable, American Short-hair named Katherine of Tarragon has graced the lives of visitors and staff on the close for over 15 years, and at this time, announces her retirement. 

Ms. Tarragon was only a kitten when she began her work as an entry-level mouse catcher in the Cathedral Greenhouse 15 years ago. It is there, where she spent most of her career until the closing of the Greenhouse in 2008. During which time, Ms. Tarragon inspired a retail product line at the Cathedral's Museum Shop where Katherine cards can be found. She spent the remainder of her professional career in the Cathedral Library, helping CCS and Cathedral records staff with daily office activities such as chasing strings across the floor, sleeping on the outgoing mail, and basking on the warm floor in front of the copy machine. Ms. Tarragon spent most mornings outside the front door of the library greeting everyone from staff and bike messengers, to visiting dignitaries.


As her primary care taker, Tom Wright describes, "Katherine is a robust 15.5 years old." She has developed some non-threatening, age-related health issues, and following the advice of her primary feline care provider has decided to retire. Ms. Tarragon will live out her days in a posh townhome in Georgetown, with daily and loving attention - and a new feline friend!


Katherine is, and will continue to be, a part of many lives. She is a reminder that even amidst the most trying of times, we can all find a common thread in the happiness - of that which occurs in nature - can bring.

2010 Choral Space Odyssey

It is difficult to talk about the end of 2009 when our season is only at the halfway mark. The 2009-2010 season has been a series of amazing events and celebrations, and we are ready and raring for 2010. This season, we have created a wonderful new group called the "CCS Ensemble Singers." The group is comprised of a rotating handful of regular CCS members that are available for local events and parties. They have performed at our fall retail fund raising events, the New Zealand Embassy, and in December, received the ultimate invitation: To provide holiday music at The White House.

This was a wonderful honor for the singers representing CCS and was hugely successful. Their artistic interpretation of holiday favorites entertained the likes of Al Roker, Andrea Mitchell, Bill O'Reilly and Wolf Blitzer. The singers were led by chorus master, Todd Fickley, and following the performance, were all introduced to the President of the United States and the First Lady.


We on the CCS staff are so proud of all the singers who participate in the "Ensemble Singers," for representing entire chorus so beautifully.

There are several exciting things in store for this season including more Young Professionals events, a "Twitter Balcony," and our final concert, Reilly & Friends: A Celebration of Twenty-Five Years - a concert sure to be a treat you will not want to miss.

Happy New Year!