12 November 2011
The Chapel Choir this evening fulfilled a request to substitute for the world famous choir of New College, Oxford, who were away in Belgium on a brief tour for Remembrance weekend in Bruges and Ghent.
This provided an excellent opportunity for John Cotton, Abingdon’s recently appointed Chapel Choir Director, to showcase the excellent work that is taking place in rehearsal – this was his inaugural Chapel Evensong away from Abingdon.
The choir sang Responses by Tomkins, a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Walmisley in D minor and, as an anthem, Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas.
The reformed Chapel Choir boasted plenty of new recruits and was in fine form throughout the service, producing a strong clear sound and good ensemble across all four sections of the choir. William Hewstone’s honeyed baritone worked well in the role of Precentor and Sebastian Johns’ organ playing in the hymn and Nunc Dimittis complemented superbly the work of the regular organist, CFC.
A full chapel congregation might have been forgiven for thinking it was a regular Evensong! This all bodes extremely well in for the future.
MAS
