Mass is said every evening at 6.30pm and at 11.30am on Saturdays with Sung Mass at 11am on Sunday morning.

The live broadcast for Sundays and special services can be found on our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/stmarysbournestreet/

We run ESOL classes for anyone who doesn't have English as their first language. These are on Thursday mornings in term time from 10am-12pm and these are run by a qualified teacher and there is a creche available for under 5s.

For further details please email [email protected]

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Our programme is inspired by a fleeting, audacious moment of musical sabotage. In May 1538, during a service in St George’s Chapel Windsor, one of the professional singers, Robert Testwood, took it upon himself to amend the text of the votive antiphon he was singing: Lauda vivi Alpha et O by Robert Fayrfax. During an exposed section of the music he pointedly
reversed the meaning of the Latin text, to deny that the Virgin Mary was redeemer and saviour (‘redemptrix et saluatrix’). This premeditated act of artistic vandalism exposes for us the doctrinal, political and social tensions which shaped the sacred music that survives
from this time, and which had very real consequences for all involved: Testwood himself would go on to die at the stake in 1543, one of the so- called Windsor Martyrs.
Drawing on recent research by distinguished musicologist Dr Kerry McCarthy, our programme navigates the musical and doctrinal minefield of
the mid-16th century. Aside from Fayrfax’s magnificent music, we shine a light on Testwood’s
reform-minded colleague at Windsor, John Merbecke. His immense antiphon O Domine Jesu Christe sounds like a conventional early Tudor Catholic work yet its text contains nothing to trouble a reformer. And we
sing the simple chant melodies he published for the new Anglican rite. We see musicians including Tallis and Sheppard reaching for solutions in the new genre of the English anthem, while still honouring the native
polyphonic tradition. And, to counterbalance the heartfelt simplicity of Sheppard’s anthems, we sing his Gaude Virgo Christipara, a six-voiced motet to the Virgin which was almost certainly sung at Durham Cathedral in late 1569 during a brief bout of rapidly-suppressed Marian devotion.
Pre-concert talk by Kerry McCarthy. We are delighted that Dr Kerry McCarthy will be with us in person on the
evening of the concert, giving a pre-concert talk putting the music into context. The talk will begin at 6.15pm and last about 45 minutes and is included in the price of your ticket.
Doors for the talk open at 6pm, and for
the concert shortly after 7pm.

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LAUDES ORGANI: A celebration of choral & organ masterworks

7:30pm Thursday 6 November 2025

St Mary’s Bourne Street London SW1W 8JJ

City Chamber Choir's Autumn Concert is an exhilarating program of choir and organ music from 19th and 20th century Europe, showcasing St Mary's Bourne Street’s magnificent organ crafted by Henry Willis & Sons in 1928.

Zoltan Kodály | Laudes Organi

Josef Rheinberger | Mass in E flat

Arvo Pärt | The Beatitudes

Kenneth Leighton | Passacaglia

Benjamin Britten | Rejoice in the Lamb

Kodály's Laudes Organi celebrates a virtuosic union of pipes and voices in his brilliant swansong. The ‘19th century’s Palestrina’, Rheinberger's magnificent Mass in E flat is rich in harmony and melody whilst Arvo Pärt's The Beatitudes is an enchanting blend of sound and silence. Recognized as a masterwork, Leighton's solo organ Passacaglia leads us to the conclusion of the program with Britten's beloved gem, Rejoice in the Lamb.

£17 Adult Early bird discount (ends 23 October 2025)

£20 Adult

£10 Student, Under-12s free

ticketsource.co.uk/city-chamber-choir

citychamberchoir.org.uk

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