Mark your calendar!
By Justin Appel, Music Director
As mid-summer approaches, it’s time to mark some important choir dates on your calendar!
August Choir Days
Who: Youth choristers
When: Wednesdays, August 12, 19, and 26
4:30-7:30 pm (bring a brown bag dinner)
The Saint Nicholas Choir kicks off the year with several rehearsals specially designed to onboard new or younger choristers. We will review basic issues of posture, breathing, music theory, and liturgy to get the year off to a positive start.
Thinking about enrolling your child in choir? Choir Days are the perfect time to give rehearsals a try before the main season begins. Please be in touch with me at justin.appel@stphilipstucson.org for more information.
Returning senior choristers will use these days to prepare intensively for their RSCM medal exams in early September.
The Saint Nicholas Choir rehearses from 4:30pm-7:30pm on Wednesdays, including a dinner break, from September-May.
Choir of Saint Philip’s Retreat
Who: Adult choristers
When: 7:00pm-9:00pm, Friday, September 11
Saturday, September 12, 9:00am-12:00pm
Kick off the choir year with our annual choir retreat! We will dive into rehearsals for our first projects of the year: Jonathan Dove’s Missa Brevis for Michaelmas (October 4) and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem for a fall Saint Philip’s Sings concert.
If you are interested in singing in the choir for the first time, contact me at justin.appel@stphilipstucson.org to discuss your interest. We are always delighted to welcome new members, and you do not necessarily need to have stellar singing skills to join. The Choir of Saint Philip’s rehearses from 7:00pm-9:00pm on Thursdays, September-May.
Choral Evensong
Who: Various choirs
When: October-May
Sundays at 4:30pm
Beginning on Sunday, October 4, Saint Philip’s will resume weekly Choral Evensong from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, sung by our Lay Clerks, the Saint Nicholas Choir and Schola Cantorum, and our St Morwenna Voices (senior choristers from the Saint Nicholas Choir and alumnae).
If you are interested in joining the Schola Cantorum, please be in touch with me at justin.appel@stphilipstucson.org. The Schola rehearses with the Saint Nicholas Choir from 3:15pm-4:15pm on the second and third Sundays of each month from October-May, directly before Evensong.
This year, the Schola and Saint Nicholas will prepare for a week-long residency as Visiting Choir at Exeter Cathedral from July 19-25, 2027. We are very excited to launch the fifth UK Residency, in conjunction with the Youth Pilgrimage to Walsingham.
