21 December 1997
St James |
Organist:
Director of Music: James Thomas (1997)
You can contact cathedral musicians via Tony Jolley.
Assistant:
Scott Farrell (1993)
Organ:
Various - Walker; Hill, Norman & Beard, etc, (last rebuilt by Nicholson in 1970)
4 manuals, 79 speaking stops, 17 couplers, sited in the North Quire.
Interesting features of the organ include a Zimbelstern, a Scharf mixture (19.22.26) on the Swell, an Unda Maris 8' and Trompette 8' on the Choir, a Sifflote 1' and Cymbel (26.29.33) on the Positif, a Septieme 1 1/7' and Trompeta Real 8' on the Solo, and a Dulzian 16' (reed) and Krummhorn 4' on the Pedals. Although there are five divisions + pedals, the Choir Organ (enclosed) and the Positif Organ (unenclosed) are played from the same manual.
Choir:
There are 5 choirs:
- The Cathedral choir of 26 boys, 3A, 3T, 5B.
- The Colts Choir (30 junior boys).
- The Workshop Choir (2 groups of 30 girls).
- The St Edmundsbury Singers (20 ladies)
- The Youth Choir (20 aged 13-18 years)
Services:
- Tue 5pm - Colts or St Edmundsbury Singers
- Wed 5pm - men (plainsong)
- Thu 5pm - boys
- Fri 7pm - full
- Sat 5pm - visiting choir
- Sun: 10 Sung Eucharist, 11:30 Choral Mattins or BCP Communion, 3:30 Evensong
Telephone: 01284 754933
Recordings:
Other
Information:
The Cathedral is at last about to be completed using £5.1M granted by the Millennium fund and a £2M bequest from the Cathedral's former Architect, Dykes-Bowers.
(The following notes have been extracted from CMQ July 1996, a publication of the Royal School of Church Music, kindly supplied by Mervyn Cousins, the previous organist [now at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral].)
- The Cathedral, although 82 years old, is still under construction.
- The Cathedral Choir is a voluntary institution, the men being drawn from a wide area of East Anglia, travelling from as far afield as Norwich and King's Lynn, and the boys being educated at local schools, rather than at a single choir school.
- The Choir has recently extended both its repertoire and its reputation, appearing six times on national television in two years and also taking part in a documentary for Dutch television.
- John Tavener was commissioned to write Lord's Prayer and Evening Canticles.
- Choir tours are organised biennially: visits in the last 6 years include Budapest, northern Hungary, Germany, Belgium, Prague and Bohemia.
- The CMQ article gives many interesting details about the
organisation and routine of the five choirs. Contact the
Royal School of Church Music
for
further details. - The choir did a series of 4 Sunday morning broadcasts on Radio 4 during Advent 1997.
Previous
Organists:
Charles Shann (1896-1937)
Percy Hallam (1937-1957)
Harrison Oxley (1957-1984)
Paul Trepte (1985-1990)
Mark Blatchly (1990-1993)
Mervyn Cousins (1993-1997)
