Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral

Indianapolis, Indiana

June 30, 2014, 5:15 p.m.

Directly across from our conference hotel, the Sheraton City Centre Indianapolis, is the Episcopal Christ Church Cathedral. The Cathedral and their staff are making our conference faculty and attendees welcome, allowing us the use of their choir room and church for rehearsals, hosting our organ breakout series and allowing us the use of their parish hall.

Their Associate Organist and Choirmaster, the award-winning Simon Thomas Jacobs, will present a recital for the Colloquium on July 2nd. As a special treat, their choir will also be performing a Choral Evensong for us on Monday evening, the opening day of the Colloquium.

From Mary Jane Ballou’s article on ChantCafe:

“The Evensong Service is the crown jewel of the Anglican musical tradition.The Book of Common Prayer combined the two canticles originally sung at Vespers and Compline, the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, which are sung sequentially at Evensong. Other music includes sung preces (short petitions), an anthem, psalmody with antiphons, as well as an organ prelude and postlude.

Christ Church Cathedral has a well-known choral program including a choir of men and boys, a choir of girls, and a Spanish language choir. The principal choir has recorded and toured extensively, so hearing their music will be a delight.

… The canticles for Monday, June 30th, were composed by Harold Friedell (1905-1958), best known as the director and organist at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. The contemporary anthem “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing” is by the British composer Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988).” 

The organs of Christ Church Cathedral are some of the finest in the entire Midwest. We’ll be treated to the following pieces during the Evensong:

Organ Preludes:

Prelude and Fugue in F minor, Op. 7 No. 2 – Marcel Dupré

“Te lucis ante terminum” from Le Tombeau de Titelouze Marcel Dupré

Organ Postlude:

Praeludium in C, BuxWV 137 – Dietrich Buxtehude

For more information about the music program at Christ Church Cathedral and a short video about the choir, visit their website here: http://www.cccindy.org/sacred-music .

Many thanks to Christ Church Cathedral for their willingness to welcome us and to share their music with us during our visit to Indianapolis!

For more information about the Colloquium, visit our page here.