Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from 'The Irish Times'
Saturday 16 August 2008
Charles Wood Summer School in Armagh
The fifteenth Charles Wood Summer School will begin in Armagh tomorrow (Sunday) and continue until Sunday 24 August. St Patrick’s Cathedral, St Mark’s parish church, the Music Hall on Vicars’ Hill and Archbishop Robinson’s Library will be among the venues
Charles Wood, the renowned musician and composer, was born at 11, Vicar’s Hill, Armagh in 1866 and received his early musical education as a chorister in St Patrick’s Cathedral opposite his home. He later studied at the Royal College of Music and became a professor there before succeeding Charles Villiers Stanford, that other fine Irish musician and composer, as Professor of Music at Cambridge University. When Wood died in 1926 he left behind a legacy of over 250 sacred works plus a large number of hymn tunes. His other compositions include songs, music for Greek plays and chamber music. But it is largely for his sacred music that he is remembered today and this is why the focus of the Summer School is music in worship
In St Patrick’s Cathedral there will be an organ recital by the Festival Director, David Hill, tomorrow (Sunday), a recital by the boy soprano, William Dutton, on Monday, an organ recital by Daniel Hyde on Wednesday and a Festival Concert on Saturday 23 August. There will be Choral Evensong in the Cathedral on Thursday and Friday and a Sung Eucharist and Choral Evensong on the last day of the Festival. On Thursday St Marks’ parish church will be the venue for ‘Come and Sing Fauré’s Requiem’.
‘Sunday Half Hour’ on BBC Radio 2 tomorrow (Sunday) will be a service of hymns led by invited local choirs, Choral Vespers will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday and the BBC Radio Ulster Morning Service on Sunday 24 August will be recorded in Armagh during the week.
Full details of the programme of events may be had at www.charleswoodsummerschool.org.
Today (Saturday) Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will be sung by the Girls’ Choir of St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick who will also sing the services tomorrow (Sunday). The choir of Hamilton Presbyterian Church, Ontario will sing the services in St Patrick’s Cathedral from tomorrow (Sunday) until Tuesday and on Thursday and Friday Evensong will be sung by the choir of St Andrew’s Church, Fulham Fields.
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening the New Hampshire Youth Chorus will continue their short tour of the south of Ireland with a concert in St Mary’s Church, Killarney. They will sing again on Tuesday evening in Holy Trinity Church, Crosshaven, and at lunchtime on Thursday in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny. The penultimate recital in the St Barrahane’s Church Festival of Music will take place in Castletownshend on Thursday evening when the performers will be Sebastian Millett (cello) and Christopher Taylor (piano).
On Tuesday evening in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway, the provost of Galway, the Very Revd Patrick Towers, will launch a new book by the former Archdeacon of Tuam, the Ven. Anthony Previté. A Guide to Connemara’s Early Christian Sites is a richly illustrated account of twenty-five settlements of early Christian monks and eremitics who populated Connemara’s ruggedly beautiful coast and islands. Archdeacon Previté, whom was ordained in 1988 and who retired in 2006 spent his entire ministry in the west of Ireland, based variously in Galway, Cong and Clifden. His knowledge of and affection for the area is evident in this most attractive book, illustrated with many of his own photographs, which is published by the Oldchapel Press.