Music Update – Lent & Easter-tide 2021
As we continue our journey towards a very careful easing of the third National Lockdown of the Coronavirus pandemic, we await any amended guidance about the safety of singing at public worship. Currently the Cathedral Choir is not singing at any services.
The Cathedral Choir is a four-part, adult voluntary choir which normally sings at the Cathedral’s 10am Solemn Mass on Sundays and at the Sung Mass or other sung liturgies on major holy days. The choir’s repertoire is wide and varied according to the liturgical season or the particular celebration.
The weekly choir rehearsal is usually at 9am in the Cathedral, immediately before the 10am Solemn Mass. From March 2020 until early December 2020 the choir was unable to sing at Mass or meet to rehearse. They were able to return for a short while during Advent and Christmas 2020 but for the safety of all, including themselves, the choir have not sung since Christmas. At time of writing, (early Lent), it seems likely that it will be a while yet before it is felt safe for church choirs to return, and even longer before congregations will again be permitted to sing.
The liturgies of Holy Week and Easter as a result will include only limited music, as Easter is in early April, and the lockdown will only be in the first stages of being eased by then.
In the meantime, on Sundays and major holy days, we hope to provide organ music and a cantor. Daily Mass is broadcast at 10am on the Plymouth Diocese YouTube channel.
Enquiries from singers interested in joining the Cathedral Choir are always most welcome, in readiness for when life returns to something approaching normal. Please contact Robert Osmond, the Cathedral’s Director of Music, on 07970-566466 who will be happy to hear from you and keep you informed of any changes to the current situation.
The Cathedral Choir is a four-part, adult voluntary choir which normally sings at the Cathedral’s 10am Solemn Mass on Sundays and at the Sung Mass or other sung liturgies on major holy days. The choir’s repertoire is wide and varied according to the liturgical season or the particular celebration.
The weekly choir rehearsal is usually at 9am in the Cathedral, immediately before the 10am Solemn Mass. From March 2020 until early December 2020 the choir was unable to sing at Mass or meet to rehearse. They were able to return for a short while during Advent and Christmas 2020 but for the safety of all, including themselves, the choir have not sung since Christmas. At time of writing, (early Lent), it seems likely that it will be a while yet before it is felt safe for church choirs to return, and even longer before congregations will again be permitted to sing.
The liturgies of Holy Week and Easter as a result will include only limited music, as Easter is in early April, and the lockdown will only be in the first stages of being eased by then.
In the meantime, on Sundays and major holy days, we hope to provide organ music and a cantor. Daily Mass is broadcast at 10am on the Plymouth Diocese YouTube channel.
Enquiries from singers interested in joining the Cathedral Choir are always most welcome, in readiness for when life returns to something approaching normal. Please contact Robert Osmond, the Cathedral’s Director of Music, on 07970-566466 who will be happy to hear from you and keep you informed of any changes to the current situation.
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The Cathedral’s Organist and Director of Music is Robert Osmond who was appointed to the Cathedral for a second time in 2020, having held the post for some years during the 1990s.
As well as being Director of Music at the Cathedral, Robert is the regular Vigil Mass Organist at Sacred Heart, Paignton on Saturday evenings, when Cathedral duties allow. He had the pleasure of working with the Cathedral Dean, Canon Mark O’Keeffe, for several years when Canon Mark was the Parish Priest of Paignton. Robert has been involved in church music since the age of 7, firstly as a chorister, then as an Assistant Organist at 15 and Organist / Director of Music from the age of 21. He has served in parishes’ locally in Devon and in both Kilburn and Willesden Green in London. Raised in the Anglo - Catholic tradition within the Church of England, Robert was received into full communion with the Holy See in early 1993, by the late Fr. Tony Bennett at Sacred Heart, Paignton and was subsequently Director of Music there before being appointed to the Cathedral a couple of years later. If you might be interested in joining the choir, or for any other musical enquiries, Robert would be delighted to hear from you. He can be contacted in the following ways:- E Mail: robert.osmond@hotmail.com Mobile: 07970 - 566466 |
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