Evensong Delights at Worcester Cathedral

On Tuesday 11 October the Chamber Choir walked down to Worcester Cathedral to sing Evensong. This historic service of Evening Prayer has remained the same for centuries and is sung or said daily in Anglican churches around the world. 

The Chamber Choir, consisting of twenty pupils and students from Year Nine to the Upper Sixth as well as four members of staff, sang their much-loved set of buoyant responses, by John Reading, as well as verses from Psalm 74 chanted in the traditional manner. The anthem for the evening was Mozart’s ‘Ave Verum Corpus’, sung with expression and delicacy, whilst the Canticles – Charles Wood’s glorious ‘Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D’ – let the choir both complement the power of the Cathedral organ (ably played, as usual, by ex-RGS Chemistry teacher, Mr John Wilderspin) and offer some more delicate, reflective moments, particularly by the five-strong bass section who opened the ‘Nunc Dimittis’ with their confident sectional solo. In the absence of a cantor from the Cathedral, Senior Teacher Dr Philip Ehlers ably stepped in and sang the solo lines in the responses.

Upper Sixth Form Music student, and alto in the choir Aoife Smith, said of the event: “It was a good experience and good fun to sing in the Cathedral again. It was a great chance to perform as a choir although we were in a different part of the Cathedral this year which created a different feel. I enjoy singing Evensong because I like the style of music, especially the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.”

It was appreciated, by both choir and Cathedral alike, that many family members and friends of the school, including teachers and Governors, attended the service in the congregation. The Chamber Choir look forward to visiting the Cathedral again at Christmas for the RGS Carol Service and then singing Evensong once again at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in April 2023.

Director of Music, Jonathan Soman