Bradford Cathedral is inviting people, whether they have music experience or none, to its re-scheduled second annual singing day, this year with Professor Paul Mealor. Professor Paul Mealor is the composer of the UK Christmas number one with his piece for The Military Wives Choir and Gareth Malone, ‘Wherever You Are’ and in 2012 he was voted the nation’s favourite living composer during the UK Classic FM Hall of Fame. Professor Paul Mealor:“What I’m planning to do is offer a selection of pieces that I’ve written, some sacred, some secular, and we will spend some time learning about the music, the work behind it, but also having fun! “Fun is very important: singing is about enjoyment. It’s not going to be a stressed-out affair. It will be fun, enjoyable and a laugh, but along the way those taking part will be learning about the musical pieces.” The Singing Day is open to everyone, whether you regularly sing or have never done it before, and everyone involved will take a lot away from the event. “Each person will have a certain set of criteria of what they’re after. I think if you’re going there as a singer, what you’ll get out of it is the composer’s take on the music which you can’t get from anybody else. You’ll get the ideas I had about writing these pieces: how they were constructed and how, as a singer, you can change the way you sing to bring the best out of the music. “For people who aren’t singers you get a chance to work with a living composer, who has actually written this music, which is actually quite special, as if you go to sing the repertoire of Bach or Mozart, of course they aren’t there! For some people they want to hear what the composer’s say, from the horse’s mouth. “It’s a special thing, and gives a different slant to how the music will be sung and performed.” The Bradford Cathedral singing day with Professor Paul Mealor takes place on Saturday 21st May 2022 from 11am – 6pm, with doors opening at 10am. Tickets are just £15 plus booking fee, with an optional lunch available for £3 plus booking fee. Tickets can be booked online at singing-day.eventbrite.co.uk or by calling Bradford Cathedral on 01274 77 77 20.
Following Earth Day 2022 come and join in a session to ‘touch the earth’ among the trees we have planted at Gaisby Lane as part of Bradford Cathedral Woodland Project.Read more at https://bradfordcathedral.blog/2022/04/20/touch-the-earth/
Bradford Cathedral will welcome Voces Usuales as a guest visiting choir for three services near the end of April.Voces Usuales will lead the worship at Bradford Cathedral on Sunday 24th April – at the 10:30am Eucharist service, and the 3:30pm Choral Evensong – as well as an extra Evensong on Saturday 23rd April at 5:30pm.You are welcome to join any of these services in person and the two Sunday services will also be streamed live via the Bradford Cathedral YouTube channel.Choral Evensong is a sung evening service, which follows a pattern from 1662. The choir leads the worship, singing psalms, canticles and hymns on behalf of the congregation. At Bradford Cathedral, Choral Evensong is currently held regularly three times a week, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 5:30pm (during term-time), and Sundays at 3:30pm.Voces Usuales is a visiting choir that sing services twice a year in English cathedrals. They are a collection of adult singers who have gained considerable experience in Anglican church music in a number of different settings. Their aim as a visiting choir, from different parts of the UK, is to support cathedral worship through performing the best of the Anglican sacred choral tradition.The choir is run by Matthew and Sinead Andrews. Originally founded in 2008, the choir was the idea of Matthew and his friend Richard Reece who had sung together in the chapel at St Chad's College in Durham. The idea quickly grew and the group expanded to include new members from other choirs who all shared a common interest in sacred choral music. There are now around 25 regular members, around 18 of whom gather on any occasion.Dr Matthew Andrews, Producer of Voces Usuales, says:“We are looking forward to visiting Bradford and singing in the cathedral in April. We have chosen music which covers a broad range of different styles, from the grandeur of Blair’s evening service in B minor or the well-known anthem by Balfour Gardiner ‘Evening Hymn’, to the less familiar setting of words from Psalm 145, ‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord’ by Gibbons. I am especially looking forward to singing Jackson’s communion service in G. “Francis Jackson was a proud Yorkshireman, born in Malton, and so it seemed only fitting that we marked both our visit to Bradford and his death in January this year by adding one of his many excellent and popular compositions to our music list.”Graham Thorpe, Bradford Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, says:“It is wonderful to finally be able to welcome Voces Usuales to Bradford Cathedral.“It is a privilege that they will provide top-class choral music for the cathedral’s daily worship in the absence of the cathedral choir, while they are on their holiday.”For more information about joining the services and how to stream them live, please visit https://bradfordcathedral.org/music/visiting-choirs#voces-usuales
...is one of eight people from across our Diocese of Leeds who have been recipients of royal Maundy gifts this year.These individuals – who have served their churches and areas faithfully for many years – have been nominated from within the diocese.Mike de Villiers was amazed to receive a letter from Buckingham Palace inviting him to be a Maundy Recipient in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Thursday 14th April 2022. This year the recipients have been chosen from across the UK and the precise number is equal to The Queen’s age, there will be 96 men and 96 women. Each recipient is invited to bring a companion with them so his wife, Elaine de Villiers, will be sitting with him during the service. After the service, recipients and companions are invited to a Reception in Windsor Castle.Having grown up in South Africa, Mike has lived and worked in Bradford since 1967 where, as a teacher for 42 years, he has been involved in various voluntary roles. He received an award for long-standing service to the Geographical Association and has been active in community tree planting and raising awareness of Fairtrade.In Manningham he built up a youth forum, Manningham Youth Talks, where young people of different backgrounds could discuss and learn about each other. He has been active with tree planting projects for over 40 years, involving others in planting over 13,000 trees. As an active member of Bradford Cathedral Eco Group as well as part of the Education Team, Mike continues to develop projects to involve people in learning about and caring for their environment. He also cycles to meetings as well as riding with Bolton Road Community Cycle Club led by Satwant Singh.His ’two sentences of information’ for The Queen read:“Having served in Bradford for 55 years as a teacher and in retirement, I have worked with young people and people of different faiths to create community and build confidence. At Lower Fields and Bradford Grammar schools, and at Bradford Cathedral, I’ve brought many people together through tree planting and campaigning for fair trade.” Mike said:“It is a great honour and I’m sure there are many, many people just as and more ‘worthy’ than I am, but I feel that I will receive this on behalf of all those with whom I’ve worked in different communities. In Bradford many good things happen!”For more information about the others who have received this honour, please visit the Diocese of Leeds website.You can also find out more about Maundy Money in our explainer video.Look out for more information soon after we follow up with Mike after Thursday’s service
