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All correspondence for Chorus Angelorum should go to Ed Franklin's attention at 1400 Hermann Dr, #12C, Houston TX 77004
Summer
Residency at Canterbury Cathedral in UK:
July 7 - 11, 2008
Past Workshops:
Remembering 2007
Remembering 2005
Remembering 2003
Chorus Angelorum hosted its third biennial choral workshop, “Trendall Tutors Tallis” from Thursday, June 23 - Sunday, June 26, 2005, at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church-Anglican Use, Houston, Texas.
David Trendell, an authority on stylistic interpretation and performance practices of English Renaissance church music, lead the workshop. The music spans most of the 16th century and included English and Continental contemporaries of Thomas Tallis (circa 1505 - 1585).
60 participants joined Mr. Trendell, Chapel Organist and Music Head at King’s College, London, in a unique opportunity to take the manuscripts of these great masters and bring their sacred music to life.
The Choral Workshop included rehearsals with David Trendell and a professional solo quartet from St. Bartholomew the Great, London, who presented a solo concert of sacred Tudor music, the Golden Age of Church Music in England. Participants sang choral evensong, followed by a concert
Location of Workshop and
Concert:
Our
Lady of Walsingham
Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church-Anglican Use at 7809 Shadyvilla Lane, near the intersection of Westview and Wirt, just north of I-10, Katy Freeway.
For more information contact Ed Franklin, Artistic Director: 713-527-8261 or E-mail: themaxbef@gmail.com
Ed Franklin's reflections on the 2003 Workshop:
The Marriage of England and Spain
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FACT SHEET: G&T—Gibbons and
Tomkins WHO: CHORUS ANGELORUM |
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Chorus
Angelorum and friends during the Summer 2003 Workshop under the
direction of David Trendell
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Ed Franklin, Artistic Director for Chorus Angelorum, looks back at our 2003 Summer Workshop.
In 2001, the Board of Directors of Chorus Angelorum embarked on the notion of presenting a choral workshop in alternate years, open to other singers as well, and taking place in mid-summer, using as the overall theme, [William] Byrd and his Tudor Friends. That David Trendell was asked to lead this workshop was no surprise because he is a leading authority on English music from this period. It was decided that he should also bring a quartet of singers with him to demonstrate the particular musical style one needs when trying to sing, as accurately as possible, the music from the 16th century, often referred to as the Golden Age of English Polyphonic Music. That first time we had twenty-nine participants, and as predicted, everyone lucky enough to be there left thoroughly enriched by the experience, energized as only an emersion in music can do, and totally engaged with David’s knowledge of the subject and with his witty style of direction and leadership. Knowing that the next workshop would be only two years away and knowing that time has a way of sneaking up on us, I immediately asked David to repeat his performance once again in Houston. The workshop was set for July 9-13, and after taking an oblique change of direction when selecting the music, we decided on yet another Tudor theme: The Marriage of England and Spain and the Reign of Queen Mary and Philip II of Spain. The general program was expanded quite a lot in that one full day was added to the schedule, running from Wednesday evening through Evensong on Sunday. In order to increase the depth of the musical experiences available, I invited the brilliant English organist, Simon Nieminski, recitalist, Pro Organo recording artist and Assistant Organist at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, to offer a series of Master Classes for organists, play a recital and to play for the closing Evensong service. It seemed appropriate then to offer a series of classes geared to music education teachers, and with that in mind, Phyllis King Braund was invited to teach two sessions on the Kodály teaching method. St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church once again generously offered to host the event, making available the necessary rehearsal facilities and food services for our group. That is the history and the nuts-and-bolts process as to how we arrived at the second Tudor music workshop for 2003. This past summer we had forty-nine participants and, as predicted, David cast his spell over the singers and set the overall tone as to the level of musical performance expected from everyone. Because of the broad scope and the various possibilities made available by the title of the workshop, David chose a very ambitious program for the singers, drawing his selections from familiar English composers, such as Tallis, Tomkins and Byrd, as well as relatively unfamiliar composers from the Continent, such as Morales, Rogier, Monte, Guerrero and Lheritier. Because the workshop was conceived within the framework of Evening Prayer, using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, service music – Preces and Responses and the Evening Canticles –and an Anglican chant setting of a Psalm were added to the musical list. When all was said and done, everyone was completely mesmerized by David’s skill at teaching the challenging music, not only the notes, but also the various styles needed to fully understand the different pieces. Having the solo quartet in the group acting as section leaders was once again a huge success. Being such exceptional singers created a slight danger in that the other participants could have been tempted to sit back and bask in the soloists’ sounds, but this didn’t happen. The schedule, while demanding, was punctuated by great meals served by the Women of St. Thomas’, and the various breaks within the rehearsal sessions were carefully engineered by choristers Martha Schuller, Susan Jones and Alys Dyke, tossing out gag gifts and favors for everyone; there was never a dull moment whether singing or on breaks. The pace was fast, always engaging, and at the end of it all, everyone was riding the wave of musical renewal while asking “when are we going to do this again?”. While the closing Choral Evensong was the high point of the workshop, a “graduation” of sorts, bringing all of the week’s efforts to a close, the concerts on Friday and Saturday nights by the guest artists represented benchmarks for the musical styles that had received so much attention during rehearsals throughout the week. One participant remarked after hearing the quartet’s concert that watching them sing and hearing how they sang the phrases was the best example of everything that had been discussed, or implied, all week long. Shaking his head he said, “That was the best lesson of all.” Another seasoned singer told me that she had sung, and heard, Byrd’s Ave verum many times, but “I’ve never heard anything like that. It’s exactly how you feel it should be sung, and that’s all you can say about it.” The four singers were: Becky Hickey, soprano; Abigail Smetham, alto; Julian Woodward, tenor; and Maurice McSweeney, bass. They all reside in London and are part of the professional octet at St. Bartholomew the Great, London. Organist Simon Nieminski played a concert of music from his most recent CD recording featuring transcriptions for organ of music from the opera. The whimsy of this concert exploited his tremendous technical skills and his unparalleled ability to fully use the various colors available on an organ. So what’s next? Well, we are committed to the next workshop in 2005, and two weeks after we waved farewell to our English friends, we met to debrief what had been and to begin cultivating what will be. How great is that? |
he summer is but a cloud of smoke and a series of memories of trips,
time with families, and the tremendous sultry Gulf Coast heat. For
Chorus Angelorum members and a host of other singers, it was a time
for the Chorus’s second bi-annual summer choral workshop,
lead once again by David Trendell, Department Head and Chapel Organist
and Lecturer at King’s College, London. David also reigns
over the music at London’s historic, and oldest surviving
church, St. Bartholomew the Great. As in the past he was accompanied
by a quartet of professional singers from St. Barts, who would sing
a concert during the workshop as well as act as chorus section leaders
during rehearsals throughout the week.Questions about the web site? Contact our webmaster.