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
You can watch it now on our YouTube channel.Don't forget you can join us tonight, in person or online, for the second - On the Hands and the Side - at 7:30pm, followed by sung compline.Find out more about this, and all our other services and events, at https://www.bradfordcathedral.org/worship/lent-holy-week-easter/#more-detail
