School News

13 year old Michael Dawson, an Exeter chorister has jointly won the Marguerite Swan Memorial Prize awarded by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. This prize is awarded annually for the highest mark achieved in Grade 7 cello examination nationally. Michael, who is taught by Mrs Hilary Boxer, is jointly the 2005 winner and has received a cheque to spend on music, books or musical equipment.

Michael also plays the piano and last year won CSA's Schools' Association composition prize - his work has been sung in school concerts and Cathedral Evensong.

Winchester Cathedral Choristers won the annual Choir Schools’ Association Western Division football tournament, held this year at Llandaff Cathedral School.
Nobody can remember a year when the tournament has not been played in awful weather! Thankfully, the hosts had booked an indoor 5-a-side sports hall. Hereford Choristers came second, while Winchester Quiristers were in third place.

Geraint Bowen, organist & director of music at Hereford Cathedral, swapped his cassock and surplice for running kit to do the London Marathon in aid of Oxfam last Sundayl.

‘Because I’m lucky enough to live about twenty yards away from my work at the cathedral,’ said Geraint, ‘I have a very short commute to work and get very little exercise as a result, so about 18 months ago I started running about a mile a day every morning before choir practice with our choristers.’

You can still support Geraint with a donation either through the official webpage https://www.bmycharity.com/GeraintBowen or by post to him at 7 College Cloisters, The Close, Hereford HR1 2NG.

P.S.Geraint is also artistic director of this year’s Three Choirs Festival, due to be held in Hereford in early August, and is conductor of the Hereford Choral Society.

New Girls' Choirs

Lichfield Cathedral have recruited its first 17 girl choristers for this September.  

Southern Cathedrals Festival (SCF) 2006

This year's SFC, which features the choirs of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals, willl be hosted by Salisbury Cathedral from 19 – 23 July with David Halls as Festival Director for the first time.

David has introduced a mini-series within SCF called ‘Youth in Music’. Former pupils of Salisbury Cathedral School who are pursuing careers as professional musicians will be performing, as will Sarum Voices, comprising mainly ex-cathedral choristers, who will sing Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and the second performance of Sam Hanson’s Requiem. Sam was Organ Scholar of Salisbury Cathedral last year and is currently studying music at Cambridge. The Festival also provides a showcase for local musicians including Salisbury Community Choir, whose programme presents an eclectic mix of music, and the Bishop of Salisbury with his period instrument ensemble; they give concerts in the warm acoustic of St Martin’s Church, Salisbury. 

Organist David Briggs will give a big screen organ recital as he improvises to the classic 1925 film ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ on the cathedral’s famous Father Willis organ. Dr Barry Rose, the first Director of Music at Guildford Cathedral and one of the country’s most respected choir trainers, puts his philosophy on choir training into practice with the help of the boy choristers of Chichester and Salisbury in a masterclass at St Martin’s church.

Something for everyone!

Tickets available from Salisbury Playhouse box office, telephone 01722 320333, up to the beginning of the Festival. During the Festival tickets can be bought from the SCF box office at No 33, The Close. Entry to all services is free.

Booking brochures available from the Department of Liturgy & Music, Salisbury Cathedral, 33 The Close, Salisbury SP1 2EJ, telephone 01722 555148 or email: s.flanaghan@salcath.co.uk, as well as Salisbury Playhouse, library, and Tourist Information Centre.