The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields is an outstanding liturgical voluntary choir rooted in Sunday worship at St Martin’s. In addition, they sing for the worship services at all the major church festivals, including Advent, Christmas, Holy Week and Easter. The Choir is well known for its broadcasts on BBC Radio and Television, concerts and tours. They strive to be amongst the leading voluntary church choirs in the UK, performing a wide range of sacred choral repertoire on a regular basis to a very high standard. 

At St Andrew's Wickford they performed a diverse programme of choral music to an appreciative and full church. The programme began with 'Totus Tuus' by Górecki and then progressed chronologically from the Renaissance - 'Sicut Cervus' by Palestrina, 'Sing Joyfully' by Byrd and 'Quam Gloriosum' by Victoria - then Romanticism - 'Abendlied' by Rheinberger and 'Nunc Dimitis' by Holst - into the twentieth century with pieces from Parry, Finzi, Stetsenko (a Ukrainian composer) and Daley, before ending with two pieces from South Africa - 'Hamba Nathi' and 'Baba Yetu', the latter being a Swahili version of the Lord's Prayer.

Among comments made about the concert was the following: "Thank you to all involved in bringing the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Andrew’s church in Wickford. To have a concert of such a standard in our town is absolutely fantastic. The choir were simply superb and the music was glorious."

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The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert: Sunday 17 July, 3.30 pm, St Andrew's Wickford. 

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields strives to be amongst the leading voluntary church choirs in the UK, performing a wide range of sacred choral repertoire on a regular basis to a high standard. Come for 45 minutes of beautiful music by Palestrina, Victoria, Holst and Todd. No tickets required. A retiring collection will be taken.

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields: 

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields is an outstanding liturgical voluntary choir rooted in Sunday worship at St Martin’s. In addition, they sing for the worship services at all the major church festivals, including Advent, Christmas, Holy Week and Easter. The Choir is well known for its broadcasts on BBC Radio and Television, concerts and tours.

Jennifer Sterling: 

Jennifer began her training as a chorister at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh alongside studies in violin and piano at St Mary’s Music School. She subsequently read music as a first study singer at the University of York before establishing a career as a singer, choral conductor, teacher, and arranger. Alongside her role as Associate Choral Director of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Jennifer is Musical Director of Otley and Ilkley Choral Societies. She performs regularly as a soprano soloist, as a Scottish folk singer, and as a member of the award-winning Edinburgh based vocal ensemble, Octavoce. Jennifer has a wealth of experience working as a musical director and is in demand for engagements across the UK. She has previously worked with organisations including Opera North and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and conducts choirs from amateur through to professional levels.

Programme:

• Totus Tuus - Górecki
• Sicut Cervus - Palestrina
• Sing Joyfully - Byrd
• Quam Gloriosum - Victoria
• Abendlied - Rheinberger
• Nunc Dimitis - Holst
• My Soul There is a Country - Parry
• My Spirit Sang All Day - Finzi
• Blahoslovy Dushe Moya Hospoda - Stetsenko
• Upon Your Heart - Daley
• Hamba Nathi - Trad. South African
• Baba Yetu - Tin arr. Jones

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The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Coming up in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry

 

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert: Sunday 17 July, 3.30 pm, St Andrew's Wickford. The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields strives to be amongst the leading voluntary church choirs in the UK, performing a wide range of sacred choral repertoire on a regular basis to a high standard. Come for 45 minutes of beautiful music by Palestrina, Victoria, Holst and Todd. A retiring collection will be taken.

Messy Church is a way of being church for families and others. It is Christ-centred, for all ages, based on creativity, hospitality and celebration. Messy Holy Day, 2-4pm, 23rd July, St Mary’s Vicarage garden Runwell. Kids must bring an adult. Contact Revd Sue: sue.wise@sky.com or Emma: emmacdoe@googlemail.com. Date for your diary - Messy Harvest, 8 October.

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The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields in concert

Sunday 17 July, 3.30 pm

St Andrew's Wickford, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields strives to be amongst the leading voluntary church choirs in the UK, performing a wide range of sacred choral repertoire on a regular basis to a high standard.

Come for 45 minutes of beautiful music by Palestrina, Victoria, Holst and Todd.

A retiring collection will be taken.

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The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields - Parish Eucharist, Second Sunday after Trinity

Epiphany at St Martin's

Sally Hitchiner will be preaching and I will be presiding at 10.00am on Sunday 5 January for the Parish Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields on the Feast of the Epiphany.

Then at 5.00pm, I will be sharing reflections during Epiphany Carols, which will also include Epiphany readings and poems. The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields will sing at both services. 

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As With Gladness.

Patronal Festival and Light the Well

Our Patronal Festival service Thirty Enterprising Years’ tonight celebrated 30 years of commercial life at St Martin-in-the-Fields and reflected on the place of the place of our business in the future of our community. The preacher for this service was Revd Dr Sam Wells, who offered a series of beatitudes for business. The service was followed by the unveiling of a plaque for Canon Geoffrey Brown and a party in the Crypt with celebrations, food and a quiz.

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields sang in the Light Well alongside Anna Sikorska's SALT installation which is the culmination of the Light the Well community art project.

Set in the Light Well from 11 – 18 November, this installation has been made by the hands of people at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Individuals from across our shared life - Church congregation, Chinese community, clergy, staff, clients from the Connection and members of our International Group - have, over some time, gathered together over tables of clay and carefully formed the pieces which fill the Light Well.

Each porcelain ‘lantern’ is filled with light from a simple string of lamps. They will sit together in-situ for one week, during which we celebrate the Feast of St. Martin and also the 30th anniversaries of St Martin-in-the-Fields Limited and the Bishop Ho Ming Wah Community Centre.

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Anton Bruckner - Locus Iste.

Worth Abbey: At the Heart, On the Edge.

One hundred and eight members of the congregation, clergy, choir and C-Club members from St Martin-in-the-Fields gathered together this weekend at Worth Abbey; the theme of the weekend was At the Heart, On the Edge. Jane Williams, Neil MacGregor, Tim Bissett, the Disability Advisory Group and many others from our community led reflections, along with an evening of Great Sacred Choral Classics: Allegri Miserere in the Abbey Church with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Revd Dr Sam Wells.

It was wonderful to be back at Worth Abbey and to be there together with so many from the St Martin's community. Our Education Committee had organised a particularly full and varied programme. 

The weekend as a whole was wonderful but highlights for me included insights from: Jane Williams on truthful prayer in the Psalms that enable us to anger and concern; Neil McGregor exploring our human need to share the sacred by expressing what is beyond our grasp; our Disability Advisory Group speaking from lived experience about reclaiming the healing miracles in the Gospels; a Theology Group that began by reflecting on reasons why the central act in human history occurred on the edge of Empire and influence; our Choir singing Allegri's Miserere in the resonant acoustic of the Abbey church with reflections from Sam Wells; and a special closing Eucharist drawing all our activities and reflections together.  

I gave an update on HeartEdge, the growing ecumenical network of churches and other organisations working across the UK and overseas initiated by St Martin's. Tim Bissett did the same in relation to the Frontline Network, which equips and supports those on the front line working with homeless and vulnerably housed people.

In addition there was also time for socialising, games, children's activities, walks, an art activity, a film, Tai Chi session, a tour of the Abbey and worship both with our community and with the monks. The art activity, led by Andrew and Helen Carter and Alice Bree, created a wall hanging depicting swallows darting to the centre of two large circles, as well as also being on the edge.

Phyllis Santa-Maria was one of those who came. She reflected: 'Wonderful St Martin-in-the-Fields Parish weekend at Worth Abbey, East Sussex. It's my fourth one, done biennially, and hard to believe each one is better than the last. Our theme, 'At the heart. On the edge.' focused on how we as a church in the heart of London and being with people on the edges of society and the economic mainstream can deepen our commitment to ourselves and our communities for making the world a better place. We prayed, learned from each other and guests, had a great, stimulating time.' 

Since I last visited Worth Abbey the monks have commissioned Heatherwick Studio to design and develop a furniture strategy as part of wider renovations to the Abbey church. The furniture package included pew benches, choir stalls with misericord seats and desks, benches, credence tables, server seats and reconciliation (confessional) rooms. Heatherwick has embedded curved threads of ash into the dark walnut pews.

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Gregorio Allegri - Missa Vidi Turbam Magnam.

Holy Week & Easter at St Martin-in-the-Fields

This Sunday at St Martin-in-the-Fields we mark the beginning of Holy Week with a Palm Sunday procession, led by a donkey, with the Chalk Farm Salvation Army Band and the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields. We meet at the steps behind Admiralty Arch near the British Council building where the procession begins at 9.45am. For those who are not joining the procession the service in church begins as usual at 10am, when we greet the arrival of the procession and together we experience a dramatised reading of the Passion Gospel led by members from the St Martin’s community.

Lent Oasis, Sunday 9 April, 2.00-4.00pm, George Richards and Austen Williams Rooms

Another ‘Oasis’ time of quiet scripture reflection, prayer and practical art. Art materials will be available for you to explore, play with colour and be creative through collage, painting, drawing or writing.

Download the full flyer for Holy Week and Easter at St Martin-in-the-Fields 2017

Sunday 9 April – Palm Sunday

8.00am: Holy Communion (BCP)

9.45am: Palm Sunday Procession

We meet at the corner of St James’s Park near Admiralty Arch. Join the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Salvation Army Band for a procession with palms, led by a donkey, into church.

10.00am: Eucharist

With the reading of the Passion Gospel

1.00pm: Service in Mandarin

2.15pm: Service in Cantonese

5.00pm: From Creation to Salvation

A powerful service of readings and music as we enter into Holy Week, telling the story of salvation, with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

7.00pm: Compline with Time to Heal

Monday 10 April – Holy Week

8.30am: Morning Prayer

1.15pm: Holy Communion (DSC)

4.30pm: Choral Evensong

7.00pm: Crosslight: A Passion Play
Presented by Riding Lights Theatre Company

This play draws us into the dramatic events of Christ’s Passion and into the experience of one disciple who failed, despite everything he believed so passionately. It’s “a fascinating psychological drama,” and is suitable for adults and young people aged 12 and older.

Tickets: £10 (£5 students)
Available here

Tuesday 11 April – Holy Week

8.30am: Morning Prayer

1.15pm: Holy Communion (DSC)

6.00pm: Holy Communion with homily (DSC)

Wednesday 12 April – Holy Week

8.30am: Morning Prayer

1.00pm: Choral Eucharist

6.30pm: Bread For the World in Holy Week

Thursday 13 April – Maundy Thursday

8.30am: Morning Prayer

1.00pm: Great Sacred Music

Join us to mark Maundy Thursday, as the clergy and St Martin’s Voices present an exploration of Duruflé’s Requiem.

6.30pm: Maundy Thursday Liturgy with foot washing. The silent vigil of the watch follows until 10.00pm. Preacher: Revd Richard Carter

Friday 14 April – Good Friday
8.30am: Morning Prayer

10.00am: Good Friday Service for All Ages

12noon-3.00pm: The Three Hours
Revd Professor Ben Quash, Professor of Christianity and the Arts, Kings College London, is the preacher in this service of reflections on the passion of Christ. With the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

12noon and 3.15pm: The Passion of Jesus – free open air play by cast from the Wintershall Estate in Trafalgar Square

7.30pm: Bach St John Passion by Candlelight

Come and see Bach’s dramatic and emotional St John Passion performed by St Martin’s Chorus and the Brandenburg Sinfonia led by conductor Andrew Earis.

Tickets: £26 £22 £18 £15 £9
Available here

Saturday 15 April – Holy Saturday

9.00am: Morning Prayer

Sunday 16 April – Easter Day

5.30am: The Easter Vigil, the lighting of the new fire and the First Eucharist of Easter

8.00am: Holy Communion (BCP)

10.00am: Easter Eucharist

Preacher: Revd Dr Sam Wells with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields

1.00pm: Service in Mandarin

2.15pm: Service in Cantonese

5.00pm: Choral Evensong with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields

6.30-7.30pm: Allegri Miserere by Candlelight

St Martin’s Voices perform a selection of poignant music for Passiontide, including the beautiful Allegri Miserere and Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, written especially for Tenebrae in the 16th century.

Tickets: £16 £12 £7
Available here

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Thomas Tallis - Lamentations Of Jeremiah.

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields: Concert of choral favourites

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields performs a concert of choral favourites at St Stephen Walbrook, St Martin’s partner church in the city. Music will include Renaissance masterpieces including Clemens non Papa’s Ego flos campi and Tallis’s O nata lux, Anglican choral standards such as Wood’s Hail, gladdening light and modern anthems and arrangements by living composers, David Bednall, Eric Whitacre and Will Todd. The choir, regular contributors to BBC Radio, is sure to come alive in the fantastic acoustic of Wren’s dome at St Stephen’s.

Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Tom Williams Conductor

Performers

The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields is a group of around 25 dedicated singers from all walks of life, with an excellent reputation for performance of a professional standard. The Choir is well known for its frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio and Television, and took part in Radio 4’s Christmas morning broadcast in December 2010, as well as Radio 2’s Sunday Half Hour 70th anniversary programme and a broadcast of Jazz Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3.

The Choir has recorded three CDs, ‘Christmas at St Martin-in-the-Fields’ (2009), Evensong in Blue (2010) and a recording, ‘The Art of Worship’, in collaboration with the National Gallery. They toured the USA – Minneapolis, New York, Washington DC and Atlanta – in May 2011, and visited Berlin in summer 2013. In summer 2014, they made another tour to the USA visiting North and South Carolina, Virginia and Washington DC.

FREE with a retiring collection for the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

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Evensong from St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Evensong & Garden Party for the Feast of the Transfiguration

We're delighted to invite you to our annual Evensong and Garden Party at St Stephen Walbrook which this year takes place on

MONDAY 8th AUGUST at 6.00pm.

The Garden Party takes place on the Feast of the Transfiguration, beginning with Choral Evensong at 6.00pm. The service will last about 50 minutes and be led by Revd. Jonathan Evens. The music, sung by the St Stephen Walbrook Choir, is Howells in G, the anthem will be Edgar Bainton's 'And I Saw a New Heaven' and the organist will be Joe Sentance.

This will be followed by the Garden Party at which drinks and snacks will be served and you are encouraged to bring guests with you. There is no charge for the event but, for purposes of catering, we do need to know if you are coming so please let us know in one of the following ways:

By email: Send an email to office@ststephenwalbrook.net
By telephone: 020 7626 9000
By post: The Administrator, St Stephen's Church, 39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN.

And further ahead:

Thursday 1st and Friday, 2nd September 10.00am - 4.00pm AN EXHIBITION OF GLASS

This free exhibition of glass artwork is organised in conjunction with the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers and is a project for the 350th Anniversary of the Great Fire of London.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

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Bruce Springsteen - Fire.gre

Trident: Renewal of a Weapon – or a Moral Vision?

I will be leading the Lighten Our Darkness service at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday 5 July, 5.00pm, which includes a sermon entitled Issues of Our Time - Trident: Renewal of a Weapon – or a Moral Vision?

Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields explores the Church’s perspective on the themes and issues of our time in this regular monthly series of Choral Evening Services with the Choir and Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Sam Wells, has recently published two new books. One, How then Shall We Live, has sermons and addresses (many from the Issues of Our Time series) that consider topical issues from migration to religious extremism, from social media to LGBT identity. The other, Joining the Angels’ Song, includes all 150 Eucharistic Prayers we have been using at St Martin’s the last three years. There will be a book signing and launch party after the 10am service on Sunday July 10.

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OMD - Enola Gay.

The Easter Vigil Service at St Stephen Walbrook

The Easter Vigil Service at St Stephen Walbrook is on Saturday 26 March at 6.00pm and includes the lighting of the Paschal Candle, renewal of Baptismal Vows and the first Eucharist of Easter. The setting, Mozart’s Mass in Bb, will be sung by the St Stephen Walbrook Choir with Joe Sentance on organ. The preacher will be The Revd Sally Muggeridge and the service will be followed by hot cross buns and drinks. All are most welcome.

'Lamentation for the Forsaken' by Michael Takeo Magruder can also be viewed. In this art installation, Takeo offers a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment.

Click here to view Arriving at Station XIII, a short series of videos exploring the development of this newly commissioned artwork for the Stations of the Cross project. The videos follow Takeo's progress as he conceives, develops and finally presents his installation at St. Stephen.

The installation was visited as part of a mini-pilgrimage undertaken by the Bishop of London and Archbishop of Westminster to three stations in the Stations of the Cross 2016 exhibition. Click here to see photographs from their visits to Salvation Army International Headquarters and St Giles Cripplegate and here to see videos of the visit to St Stephen and the other Stations.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Missa Brevis in Bb.

Discover & explore and Lamentation for the forsaken

Shared service with St Martin-in-the-Fields - Monday 21st March, 1.10pm at St Stephen Walbrook. 

This will be a Discover & explore service with the Choral Scholars of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Choir of St Stephen Walbrook and our organist Joe Sentance. The choirs will sing the anthem which has given the themes for this Discover & explore service series; Eric Whitacre's 'Hope, Faith, Life, Love'.

The theme of this service will be 'Soul' and the preacher will be Dr Carolyn Rosen. Following the service, the artist Michael Takeo Magruder will discuss his digital art installation 'Lamentation for the Forsaken, 2016'. 

This installation can be seen until Good Friday at St Stephen Walbrook (weekdays, 10am – 4pm, except on Wednesdays, 11.00am - 3.00pm), as part of ‘Stations of the Cross 2016’ an exhibition across 14 iconic locations in London during Lent. In his installation, Takeo offers a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment. Click here to view Arriving at Station XIII, a short series of videos exploring the development of this newly commissioned artwork for the Stations of the Cross project. The videos follow Takeo's progress as he conceives, develops and finally presents his installation at St. Stephen.

The Tablet has said of this installation:

"In the richly harmonious interior of Christopher Wren’s St Stephen’s Walbrook, Michael Takeo Magruder’s Lamentation for the Forsaken is inspired by a passage from Lamentations (5:1-2) whose contemporary relevance is achingly obvious: “Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look and see our disgrace! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens.”

On the tomb-shaped installation’s four modular screens an image of the Turin Shroud comes in and out of focus as parts of Christ’s body merge with news photographs of Syrian refugees. In the place of Christ’s feet we see migrants in transit, littering railway lines and piled on to overloaded boats; in the place of Christ’s hands we find refugees caring for loved ones, alive, injured and dead; in the place of Christ’s body we witness asylum seekers caught up in conflict, clashing with police with riot shields. Christ’s face, meanwhile, yields place to a hollow-eyed young woman and a wide-eyed child dangling a limp doll. Underlying the shifting images is a mesh of Roman capitals recording the names of the dead as a roll of honour."

Before then our next Discover & explore service at St Stephen is Trust (Monday 15th March) at 1.10pm. All are most welcome.

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Eric Whitacre - hope, faith, life, love.