BCSD - Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum

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Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum (est. September 2006)

Classical Choir of Men and Boys

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum is the choir of men and boys which sings the weekday services in Tewkesbury Abbey. The choristers moved to Dean Close Preparatory School, Cheltenham in September 2006 when The Abbey School closed. Dean Close, the choir school for Tewkesbury Abbey, is a full member of The Choir Schools' Association.

Over the last few years, the choir has been involved in a number of collaborations – Bach's Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of St John, Mahler's Third Symphony with Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra, Bach's St Matthew Passion and Britten's Spring Symphony with Cheltenham Bach Choir and Honegger's Cantate de Noel with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales. Since 2000, the choir has undertaken eight foreign tours, including two lengthy visits to the USA, four visits to France and trips to Italy and Germany. The choir has broadcast regularly from the Abbey, and in September 2006 broadcast Choral Evensong from St Michael's Church Tenbury Wells, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the foundation of St Michael's College. In the front rank: flair, acumen, versatility, and poise.

The choir has made numerous recordings on the Delphian, Guild, Naxos, Priory, Regent and Signum labels. 'The Three Kings' was released in November 2007 to great critical acclaim. In December 2007 the choristers recorded Honegger's Cantate de Noel on the Hyperion label, and in May 2008 the choir recorded a disc of Weelkes's choral music for Delphian. This will be released in October 2008.

The choir has also been active in commissioning new works and in Christmas 2007 gave the first performance of Bob Chilcott's The night he was born. Gabriel Jackson, Mark Blatchly, John Caldwell and Graytson Ives have all written for the choir.

Related Sites

Official Site: Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum The choir's new nomepage
BCSD: Laurence Kilsby Laurence was named YCOTY 2009
BCSD: Oliver Gay Oliver was a finalist in the 2007 BBC YCOTY competition.
BCSD: The Abbey School Choir, Tewkesbury
Boy Choir Magazine Tewkesbury Abbey Issue
Dean Close - Choristers The school's website
Tewkesbury Abbey Site of Tewkesbury Abbey

Search Google for 'Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum': Web - Images

Featured Recordings

Compact | Full

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore; Coronation Mass

Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore; Coronation Mass (Delphian Records DCD34102, CD) March 2013

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum Laurence Kilsby
W.A. Mozart: Coronation Mass, Ave Verum Corpus & Solemn Vespers of the Confessor

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum and Charivari Agréable come together for the first time in vividly communicative interpretations of three of Mozart’s sacred masterpieces. The forces are very much as Mozart intended – a period orchestra, an all-male chorus and soloists (including 2009 BBC Chorister of the Year Laurence Kilsby) drawn from the choir. Under Benjamin Nicholas’s spirited direction these performances bristle with energy and the invigorating freshness of youth.

Laurence Kilsby treble; Jeremy Kenyon, alto; Christopher Watson, tenor; Christopher Borrett, bass. Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, cond. Benjamin Nicholas. Charivari Agréable, Kah-Ming Ng, director.

Available at grooves-inc.com

Available at jpc.de

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - John Rutter: The Tewkesbury Collection

John Rutter: The Tewkesbury Collection (Delphian Records DCD34107, CD) August 2012

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum
For his final recording with the men and boys of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, Benjamin Nicholas has chosen to celebrate Britain’s best-loved living composer, John Rutter. Rather than simply sticking to familiar classics, this programme explores the full range of the composer’s output from The Lord is my shepherd and Lord, thou hast been our refuge to his most recent piece This is the day, written for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Rutter’s rare communicative gifts are given a special glow by the refulgent acoustic of Tewkesbury Abbey and the choir’s luminous singing.

1. Lord, thou hast been our refuge
2. Dormi, Jesu
3. This is the day
4. Carol of the Magi
5. As the bridegroom to his chosen
6. The Lord is my shepherd
7. Ave Maria
8. The Lord bless you and keep you
9. A Prayer of Saint Patrick
10. Hymn to the Creator of Light
11. Wells Jubilate
12. God be in my head
13. The Gift of Charity
14. There is a flower
15. A Choral Amen

Available at amazon.com
Available at arkivmusic.com
Available at grooves-inc.com
Available at prestoclassical.co.uk

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - Songbook

Songbook (Delphian DCD34097/ISBN B0058NNGBE, CD) August 2011

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum Laurence Kilsby
This ‘songbook’ is unique to the Schola Cantorum choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey. “Essentially, it's a showcase for the Abbey trebles,” their Director of Music Benjamin Nicholas explains. “We’ve been assembling our own Songbook for quite a while now – the songs the trebles sing, from time to time, in boys-only concerts, and that they are taught in individual singing lessons. I’ve always been keen to build each boy up as a soloist, not necessarily with the express idea of them singing lots of solos, but so that they can learn to sing in a soloistic way.”

This is evident most of all in the distinctive singing of 11- year-old Laurence Kilsby, whose gifts won him the BBC Chorister of the Year competition in 2009. On this recording, he features as soloist in two Shelley settings by Roger Quilter, the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria and in John Ireland’s beautiful, sincerely-felt Passiontide motet Ex Ore Innocentium from 1944.

The Trebles of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum
Benjamin Nicholas, director
Helen Porter, piano
Carleton Etherington, organ

1.   Music, When Soft Voices Die

2.   Vater Unser

3.   Fairest Isle (Address To Britain)

4.   Love's Philosophy

5.   The Land of Spices

6.   Whispers

7.   O Salutaris Hostia

8.   Ex Ore Innocentium

9.   The Flower

10.   A Song At Evening

11.   Ave Maria

12.   Nymphs and Shepherds

13.   Dutch Carol

14.   I Will Give My Lord An Apple

15.   Linden Lea

16.   Dirge For Fidele

17.   Somewhere

18.   Sure On This Shining Night

19.   At The River

20.   The Lord's Prayer

21.   Wedding Introit

22.   I Sing Of A Maiden

23.   Skye Boat Song

24.   How Can I Keep From Singing

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Available at Crotchet

Available at grooves-inc.com

Available at HMV

Available at jpc.de

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - STANFORD - Choral Music

STANFORD - Choral Music (Delphian DCD34087, CD) November 2010

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum Laurence Kilsby

1. Evening Service In G, Op. 81 - Magnificat
2. Evening Service In G, Op. 81 - Nunc Dimittis
3. The Lord Is My Shepherd
4. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 1a - A Song Of Freedom
5. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 1b - Let Us, With A Gladsome Mind
6. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 2a - A Song Of Trust
7. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 2b - Purest And Highest
8. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 3a - A Song Of Hope
9. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 3b - In Thee Is Gladness
10. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 4a - A Song Of Peace
11. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 4b - Pray That Jerusalem
12. Bible Songs And Six Hymns, Op. 113 - No. 5a - A Song Of Battle

Available at Amazon.co.uk
Available at Crotchet
Available at Delphian Records
Available at grooves-inc.com

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - Choral Evensong from Tewkesbury Abbey

Choral Evensong from Tewkesbury Abbey (Delphian Records DCD34713, CD) April 2010

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum
The complete service of Evensong with music by Alcock, Howells, Jackson, Statham, Tallis and Vaughan Williams.

The Abbey School Choir, Tewkesbury
Carleton Etherington, organ
Benjamin Nicholas, director

1.   Master Tallis's Testament

2.   Sancte Deus

3.   Preces

4.   Psalm 91

5.   Psalm 131

6.   Isaiah 6: 1-8

7.   Magnificat (Tewkesbury Service)

8.   1 Corinthians 13

9.   Nunc Dimittis (Tewkesbury Service)

10.   Creed

11.   Responses and Collects

12.   Anthem: Valiant-for-Truth

13.   Prayers & Blessing

14.   The Day Thou Gavest (St Clement)

15.   Te Deum (Collegium Regale)

16.   Toccata in B Flat Minor

Available at amazon.com

Available at grooves-inc.com

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - Thomas Weelkes: Sacred Choral Music

Thomas Weelkes: Sacred Choral Music (Delphian DCD34070, CD) December 2008

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum

Available at grooves-inc.com
Available at jpc.de

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - The Three Kings

The Three Kings (Delphian DCD34047, CD) November 2007

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum
Music for Christmas. Carleton Etherington, organ. Benjamin Nicholas, director.


Available at grooves-inc.com

Other Recordings

Compact | Full

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum - Honegger: Une Cantate de Noël

Honegger: Une Cantate de Noël (Hyperion CDA67688, CD) November 2008

Featuring Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum
Arthur Honegger’s 'Une Cantate de Noël' is a Christmas number with a difference. The text of the cantata is derived from liturgical and popular texts—including Psalms and part of the Latin Gloria. A notable feature is the intertwining of traditional carols in French and German. Honegger scored the cantata for solo baritone, mixed chorus, children’s choir and an orchestra including organ. (This recording from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Thierry Fischer also includes a selection of Honegger’s orchestral works: 'Horace victorieux', 'Cello Concerto' and 'Prélude, Fugue et Postlude'.)

This page last modified on Friday, May 23, 2008