- Choir of Chichester Cathedral
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Choir of Chichester Cathedral 
The Choir (2008/09)Cathedral Chichester Cathedral Organist & Master of the Choristers Sarah Baldock Assistant Organist Timothy Ravalde Chorister Ages 7-13 Robe Colour Crimson Website www.chichestercathedral.org.uk The musical foundation of Chichester Cathedral consists of the Organist and Master of the Choristers, the Assistant Organist, and the Organ Scholar; together with six singing men (called Lay Vicars), eighteen Choristers, six Probationers - and including a Head Chorister and a Senior Chorister (Deputy Head) who both wear a notable medallion on a red ribbon according to their office held. The Choristers and Probationers are all boarders at the Prebendal School, the Cathedral's Choir School. The Lay Vicars are professional singers, who all have everyday jobs as well as being Lay Vicars. The Organists (Organist & Master of the Choristers, Assistant Organist and Organ Scholar) and the Lay Vicars are given a house free of charge with their liturgical offices in the Cathedral.
During school term, the cathedral has six sung services a week. As well as singing, choristers learn the piano and an orchestral instrument, spending at least eighteen hours a week on musical performance.
Contents
Appearances
Each year, the Choir appears at the Chichester Festival Theatre at Christmas where they sing "Christmas Concerts" alongside local school choirs including the Bishop Luffa School Choir, and are accompanied by the Band of HM Royal Marines, Portsmouth. They sing a variety of carols and are directed by the Organist & Master of the Choristers. They have been considered the highlight of the show for years. The choristers return to school in the interval and Close Company perform.
The choir sing at the Chichester Festivities each year in a concert called "Chichester Cathedral Choir By Candelight". The programme normally consists of music by composers who are being commemorated that year. As tradition follows, the choir leave the stage and exit the cathedral, carrying candles and singing the hymn, The Day thou Gavest Lord is Ended. It is one of the Festival’s perennial favourites.[1] In the concert, there are also solo items played by the Assistant Organist and Organ Scholar. The ensemble accompanying the choir also performs its own piece.
They also participate in the Southern Cathedrals Festival with the choirs of Winchester and Salisbury. They have taken part in this annual festival since it was first established in 1904. The choir stays at the hosting cathedral's choir school.The choir perform concerts, sing evensong and participate in masterclasses.
In Christmas 2007, they sang with Seamus Cullen (runner up to the TV series Any Dream Will Do). The choir has appeared with many different artists including Petula Clark, Richard Stilgoe, the King’s Singers, the Cambridge Buskers, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and Cantabile. Television appearances have included Placido’ Domingo’s Christmas Choice and Rumpole of the Bailey. In 1985 their recording of cathedral music by Geoffrey Burgon won a Critics Choice of the year Award in Gramophone Magazine.
Tours
Each year, the choir visits churches in the diocese and sing Evensong. They also frequently tour other countries with links to the cathedral.
Recent tours include:
- 2011 - Ravenna, Italy
- 2010 - Berlin, Germany
- 2007 - Bamberg, Germany
- 2006 - Chartres, France
- 2006 - Lessay, France
- 2005 - Cape Town, South Africa
- 2000 - Bamberg, Germany
- 2002 - Bayreuth, Germany
- 1998 - Chartres, France
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Recordings
- 2010 - Holst in Chichester
- 2009 - Carols from Chichester Cathedral
- 2007 - Jubilate
- 2007 - Let Us Lift Up Our Heart: 19th Century Church Music
- 1999 – Benedicite
- 1997 - Sing Ye to the Lord
- 1996 - Chichester Commissions
- 1996 - Great Cathedral Anthems Vol. 7
- 1994 - Malcolm Archer: Requiem
- 1991 - Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis Vol. 2
- 1991 - The Welkin Rings
- 1984 - 19th Century Church Music by Goss, Ousely, Smart, Stainer and S.S. Wesley
- 1984 - Cathedral Music by Geoffrey Burgon
- 1977 - Christmas in Chichester
- 1976 - In Quires and Places...
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Close Company
Close Company Origin Chichester, England Genres Classical
BarbershopYears active 1993 – Present Members The Lay Vicars of Chichester Cathedral Close Company is the name used by the Lay Vicars of Chichester Cathedral when they sing the men's voices barbershop repertory made popular in the United Kingdom by the King's Singers. As well as being professional singers, most of them work everyday jobs. Still, every evening they are back in the cathedral with the choristers for Evensong at 5.30pm. The Lay Vicar who has been in the Cathedral Choir for the longest is given the title 'Senior Lay Vicar'.
Their duties with the Cathedral Choir also include singing concerts and making concerts in the UK and abroad, but they are perhaps best known for their performances at the annual Christmas Carols, having been part of that tradition since 1993, when they first stepped out in their white jackets.
Throughout the rest of the year, Close Company performs in a variety of venues, and recent performances include a very successful evening at the Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis, the Assembly Rooms in North Street, St. John's College[disambiguation needed
], West Dean College and the beautiful Tudor house of St. Mary's House, Bramber. On the Choir's 2005 tour of South Africa, Close Company had the great honour of performing to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.[2]References
- ^ "Chichester Festivities: Chichester Cathedral Choir". http://www.chifest.org.uk/eventdetail.aspx?id=741.
- ^ Chichester Festival Theatre Autumn 08: Christmas Concerts. 2008. p. 22.
Categories:- Chichester Cathedral
- Boys' and men's choirs
- English choirs
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