King's College Course
Service Schedule
Tuesday |
Guest Director: Richard Tanner, Blackburn Cathedral, England
Course Fee: $525.00 for non RSCMA affiliates; $500 for RSCMA Members.
A non refundable fee of $150 is due with the registration form.
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church of Wilkes-Barre, PA will host the 2009 King's College Summer Choir Training Course sponsored by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) in America. The course will be held from Monday, July 27th through Sunday, August 2nd. This course is the largest of its kind in North America, attracting 150+ singers of all ages from 10 years and up. The singers come from all across the USA. Living facilities are provided at King's College, and the services and concerts in which they participate are held primarily here at St. Stephen's Church.
The Music Director for this year's course is Richard Tanner, Organist and Director of Music at Blackburn Cathedral since 1998. At Blackburn he has led a music program which has grown considerably under his leadership. There are currently around 170 singers involved in music making at the Cathedral.
As well as championing the work of the historic Cathedral Choir of boys and men and supporting the work of the Young People's Choir, Richard has developed singing opportunities for girls, and for children aged 5-8. There have been a number of radio and television broadcasts featuring the choirs of the Cathedral and many commercial recordings have been made in the Cathedral.
As an organist, he is busy as a recitalist and also enjoys giving concerts with his wife, the soprano Philippa Hyde.
Richard was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral, student at the Royal Academy of Music, and organ scholar of Exeter College, Oxford and St Albans Cathedral. Immediately before moving to Blackburn he spent five years as Director of Music at All Saints Church, Northampton.
The Course Manager is the Rev'd Linda Rosengren, Deacon of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Jacksonville, Florida. The Course Chaplain is the Rev'd Victoria Geer McGrath, Rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Millington, New Jersey. The boy, girl, teen, and adult choristers are trained by a staff of some of the finest church musicians in the USA.
Day to day living is supervised by a caring staff of professional musicians who specialize in pastoral work with people of all ages. Several other clergy are involved in the day to day work of the course, including the Rev'd Daniel C. Gunn, Rector of St. Stephen's in Wilkes-Barre, and the Rev'd Edward K. Erb, Rector of St. John's Church in Hamlin PA.
Central to the course is the singing of the Daily Office of Evening Prayer from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, better known as Choral Evensong. Choral Evensong will be sung at St. Stephen's Church on various evenings throughout the course.
A select schola of singers will lead the deeply moving service of Compline, the last of the Daily Offices, in the late evenings. This magical service features centuries-old Gregorian chants and exquisite unaccompanied motets and anthems written by composers from the 16th century through the present day.
Holy Eucharist is celebrated daily (without music) from Tuesday through Friday in the Chapel of Christ the King at King's College at 7:30 a.m. and on Saturday at 8 a.m.
The full course will sing Choral Eucharist on Sunday, August 2nd at 10:30 a.m. in St. Stephen's Church with the Rev'd Daniel Gunn serving as Celebrant and Preacher.
The closing liturgical and musical event and climax of the week will be a service of Festal Choral Evensong on Sunday, August 2nd at 3:30 p.m. at St. Stephen's.