UK Choral Residency Reports

As we enter the fall choir season, I find myself thinking back to our 2019 Summer Choral Residency trip to Ely Cathedral with the Saint Nicholas Choir and the Schola Cantorum. The experience was wonderful in so many ways, it is — and has been — difficult for me to explain adequately what such a residency entails, and why I believe it’s so important.

So, what I would like to do is to write a number of posts about the topic and publish them in the Bell & Tower. As time allows, we will record interviews with our youth choristers, Schola members, and parents who went along, to explain how the Residency program has affected them.

Why do this now? Well, in part because we are trying to stay connected during this season of isolation. This is the perfect time to peek into a few corners of church life, into various ministry areas and understand how we are all connected. The Residency, in a sense, is our youth choir program in concentrated form, so we should all take an interest!

The other reason why I want to highlight the Residency, is that we have been invited to sing at Wells Cathedral in the summer of 2022. This is an exciting honor for our choristers, and we want to help the parish as a community see this project in context with our other musical and formational activities.

Stay tuned!

Justin Appel, Director of Music