Thursday 12 April 2018

The Year so Far...

Up to now, it's been a quiet 2018 for the Rudgates with only a chant mass for the York Ordinariate Mission and a Requiem in the Extraordinary Form in Hedon. This has allowed me to sing with other excellent choirs such as St Austin's, Wakefield and the Middlesbrough Cathedral Consort (links to both on the right) and in such locations as Leeds Cathedral, Ripon Cathedral and (new to me) Norwich Catholic Cathedral. I've also managed to catch up with supporting/listening to the excellent Westland Singers, Clerkes of All Saints and the as yet unlinked Caelestis Consort who sing Evensong during term time at St Lawrence's Church in York. I shall rectify that omission soon!

For the Rudgates though, things are about to change! We have a Pontifical Mass (Ordinariate Use of the Roman Rite) coming up next month at St. Mary's Bishophill Jnr, where some of us sing Compline and which is also the home of the York Ordinariate Mission in addition to being a C of E Parish Church which also hosts the local Greek, Russian and Coptic Orthodox Communities. Talk about diversity!

What makes the service we're singing for particularly exciting, is that it is believed to be the first time *ever* that a Pontifical Mass, certainly in this Form, will be celebrated in an existing Anglican Church - so we're about to create another slice of history to go alongside the York Minster EF Mass of 2011 (believed to be the first Mass of it's type since the reign of Queen Mary Tudor) and Vespers at St. Mary's Abbey in York, where the Solemn 'York' Salve Regina, written for the monks there, was sung in situ for the first time since the Reformation!

If you're at a loose end on the 12th May at 4pm, do come along - especially if you like Tallis. :-)

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