Peterborough Cathedral Girls’ Choir
The present members of the Peterborough Cathedral Choirs are today’s successors in the long line of singers who have maintained the traditional daily singing of the offices in the Cathedral for the past nine centuries. Until 1997, the cathedral choir, in common with other English cathedral choirs was all-male, consisting of the choirboys and the six professional adult singers (the Lay Clerks) who sing alto, tenor and bass. At that time, the enormous benefits and opportunities of being a cathedral chorister were made available to girls as well as boys, when the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough approved the formation of an entirely separate Cathedral Girls’ Choir to run in parallel with the Boys’ Choir. There are twenty-four girl choristers, aged from twelve to eighteen, and they are all educated at the King’s School, Peterborough, which was founded in 1541 by Henry VIII when the great Abbey of Peterborough was raised to the rank of Cathedral.
The Girls’ Choir plays a full part in the
musical life of the cathedral and the city – the girls
practise five times each week and sing regularly for cathedral
services. They perform weekly as a choir in their own right, with
a wide range of music for soprano and alto voices in up to four
or five parts. The girls also combine with the Cathedral Lay
Clerks, providing the soprano line for a repertoire of music for
mixed voices which spans five centuries. In addition to the
normal round of practices and services, the girls sing at special
services and concerts, both on their own and with the Lay Clerks.
They have taken part in BBC television broadcasts (including the
internationally broadcast Christmas Songs of Praise in
1998), in addition to recordings for local television and radio,
and have featured on recordings which include two CD recordings
of Christmas music from the Cathedral. In 2003, the girls and men
broadcast Choral Evensong live on BBC Radio 3.
Music List for the Lent Term, 2004
Wednesday 7th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Duthie
Psalm 145
Sumsion in D
Lole: The Father’s Love
Friday 9th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Rose
Psalm 27, 29
Dyson in D
Mendelssohn: There shall a star
Wednesday 14th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Duthie
Psalm 47, 48
Kelly: Jamaican Canticles
Lang: Eastern Monarchs
Sunday 18th
Second after Epiphany
9.30 am Choral Mattins
Responses: Rose
Psalm 145: 1-13
Stanford in B flat
10.30 am Sung Eucharist
Mozart: Missa Brevis in B flat
3.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Rose
Psalm 96
Howells: Gloucester Service
Cruttenden: Ecce, quam bonum
Wednesday 21st
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Edwards
Psalm 97, 98
Bairstow in E flat
Aston: I give you a new commandment
Friday 23rd
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Smith
Psalm 73
Aston in F
Bach: Lobet den Herrn
Wednesday 28th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Edwards
Psalm 21, 29
Dyson in C minor
Marcello: Heart’s Adoration
Wednesday 4th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Edwards
Psalm 11, 12, 13
Sumsion in G
Dunhill: Pilgrim’s Song
Friday 6th
Queen’s Accession
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Smith
Psalm 22
Wood in F
Parry: I was glad
Wednesday 11th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Edwards
Psalm 119: 33-56
Sumsion in D
Rutter: I will sing with the Spirit
HALF TERM
Wednesday 25th
Ash Wednesday
5.30 pm Sung Eucharist with Ashing
Byrd: Four-part Mass
Wesley: Wash me throughly
Friday 27th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 3, 7
Walmisley in D minor
Greene: Lord, let me know mine end
Wednesday 3rd
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Darke
Psalm 9, 28
Vann: The Chester Service
Edwards: Behold us, Lord
Wednesday 10th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Edwards
Psalm 3, 51
Robinson in C
Mendelssohn: Lift thine eyes
Friday 12th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 6, 38
Noble in B minor
Bairstow: Lord, I call upon thee
Wednesday 17th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Archer
Psalm 36, 39
Watson in F
Parry: Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land
Wednesday 24th
Eve of Annunciation
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Archer
Psalm 85
Wayne Marshall in C
Fauré: Ave Maria
Friday 26th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 13, 16
Purcell in G minor
Purcell: Hear my prayer
Sunday 28th
9.30 am Choral Mattins
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 111, 112
Dyson in F
10.30 am Sung Eucharist
Kodaly: Missa Brevis
3.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Leighton
Psalm 35
Jackson in G
Finzi: Lo, the full, final sacrifice
Wednesday 31st
March
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Archer
Psalm 55, 124
Moore: Fauxbourdons
Archer: When I survey
Wednesday 7th
5.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: plainsong
Psalm 102:1-17 (plainsong)
Duthie: Fauxbourdon Service
Victoria: O vos omnes
Thursday 8th
Maundy Thursday
7.00 pm Sung Eucharist
Vaughan Williams in G minor
Duruflé: Ubi Caritas
Saturday 10th
Holy Saturday
3.30 pm Choral Evensong
Responses: Plainsong
Psalm 142
Farrant Short
Victoria: Sepulto Domino
Sunday 11th
Easter Day
9.30 am Sung Eucharist
Stanford: Festal Service in B flat
If you have an MP3 player, you can listen to some extracts of the choir singing. These files are all roughly 1MB in size and may take some time to download, depending on the speed of your connection. You can continue to browse this page while the download is taking place.
Select one of the following:
Tour to Belgium in October 2000
The Cathedral Girls’ Choir is a relatively new and exciting development in the musical life of the Cathedral, offering girls the musical opportunities hitherto only available to boys. The Girls’ Choir already plays an important part in enhancing the worship at cathedral services, and in bringing the cathedral’s rich musical heritage to the attention of the wider community by means of concerts and recordings.
They extended this process of outreach by performing an intensive series of concerts and services in Belgium with the Cathedral Lay Clerks from Friday 20th October to Sunday 29th October, 2000. Engagements included a concert in Lier as part of the Flanders Festival, and concerts in Haasdonk, Kaprijke and Deinze. The choir also sang mass at Antwerp Cathedral on Sunday 29th October.
At the beginning of each academic year, applications are invited from girls who have just started in Year 6 for admission to the choir and to the King's School in September of the following year.
Successful candidates who are prepared to make the full commitment of practices and services are awarded a place in the choir. A place at the King's School is also awarded (under Category 2: Chorister places), and this place is conditional on continued and committed membership of the choir.
For further details, contact the Cathedral Music Office.
For more information about the choir or any of the above,
contact
Mark Duthie (Assistant Master of the Music and Director of the
Cathedral Girls' Choir)
at
The Cathedral Music Office
Laurel Court
Minster Precincts
Peterborough
PE1 1XX
Telephone and Fax: (01733) 891333.
E-mail: laurel.court@lineone.net
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