We’re trying something new this year - staging an event as part of Canterbury Festival! The main event will be Gregorian Vespers at St. Peter’s Chruch, Oare where there is an exhibition of Icons, also part of the Festival. This will be taking place on 25th October with rehearsals on the preceding Saturdays.

In addition we are going to be running our Gregorian 101 seminar for absolute beginners (a great success last year), which will be in Orange Street Music Club (thanks again guys for the support!). 101 will be from 10am till 12 noon on 24th October.

Details of both events will be apperaring in the Fesitval brochure so rush out now and get one!

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Well 2008 was certainly a busy one with our visit to the Canterbury Cathedral archives which proved to be a fantastically interesting morning in a most agreeable venue. We also had the very first ever (to our knowledge - feel free to get in touch if we’re wrong!) Gregorian 101 - a basic nuts and bolts Chant primer enjoyed by a small but enthusiastic group of chanters in October.

Earlier on in the year of course, we had had a chance to hear how it should be sung when we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon at Minster Priory. We are hoping for a return visit at some point this year so watch this space for details. Prior to that (no weak pun intended) abbet you all remember (that time it was, sorry) the morning we spent in Greyfriars in Canterbury.

Of course the big event of the year was our now annual Day of Chant: a candle-lit church, enthusiastic ‘Alleluias’, All Souls in Haiti and lots of fantastic chants for All Saints made for an unforgettable day in spite of the weather- it rained torrentially absolutely all day!

Philip Duffy of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge returned to lead our day. We had a mix of more experienced singers and beginners which helped with tackling the music. Philip had chosen some really beautiful antiphons and canticles for the Vespers Service we were to prepare. The ‘Alleluias’ of the New Testament Canticle were unforgettable, especially when Philip got us to sing them really enthusiastically. A talk by Helen Nattrass reviewed different traditions of observing All Saints and All Souls in different cultures. Jonathan Butchers stepped in at short notice and talked about the Monastic Community at Bec in France.

Father Mark Ball, Parish Priest of St. Mildred’s welcomed us to his Church for the Vespers Service. He had made a special effort, lighting the church with a host of candles and making every effort to observe the Solemnity of the Feast as we sang the First Vespers of All Saints at which he presided.

We are most grateful to Philip Duffy for his inspirational coaching and to Father Ball for his welcome and for making the Vespers itself such an atmospheric and lovely occasion.

Looking forward to an equally Chant-filled 2009!

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The morning will begin with a talk by Toby Huitson who has worked in the Archives and has reconstructed whole pieces of music from mediaeval fragments. He will describe the music fragments he used and discuss their origin and history leading to their discovery as well as the process of reconstructing the music and text. After the talk, we will have a go at singing through one of the antiphons that Toby has reconstructed. The morning will end with refreshments and a chance to look round some interesting items on display. Staff from the Archives will be present to discuss the items and give any information about the collections and resources of the Cathedral Library and Archives.

£8 for CGMS members, £12 non-members: for further details or to book a place email us at contact@gregoriansociety.org.

Please note: parking within the cathedral grounds is not available except for pre-booked disabled badge holders.

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