The ancient and beautiful service of Choral Evensong is presented on the fourth Sunday of selected months at St. John’s. Join us on April 28 at 5:00pm for this time of music and worship. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.

Sung by The Anglican Singers; Simon Holt, choirmaster; Graham Schultz, organist.

This event is free admission, donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.

Click on the image below to watch. Click here for service music bulletin.

Service Music:
Introit: Coelos ascendit – Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
Preces and Responses – Paul Spicer (b. 1952)
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in G – Charles Villiers Stanford
Anthem: The Spirit of the Lord – Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Organ voluntaries:
Angel’s Farewell, from Dream of Gerontius – Edward Elgar
Postlude in D minor – Charles Villiers Stanford

About the Artists:

The Anglican Singers have a deep interest in music of the English choral tradition and hail from a wide variety of musical and personal backgrounds.

Each of the singers is individually auditioned, highly motivated, and drawn to the beauty and rich tradition of the group’s music. Many of the singers are members of other professional and non-professional choral groups within the southeastern Connecticut area. The Singers rehearse from September through May with upwards of eight performances during this period, including one or more venues outside of the local area.

Because of their high level of dedication and performance, the group has been invited to sing at numerous venues throughout New England and beyond. The Berlioz Historical Brass requested the Singers to premiere Clifford Bevan’s Mendelssohn’s Seasons for choir and historical bass at the 2009 Amherst Early Music Festival. The Singers have also premiered two works by the eminent composer Robert J. Powell: the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G minor (written in 1965 but not performed until 2007) and Benedictus es, Domine, written and performed in 2008 to honor the retirement of the group’s founding director, Marianna Wilcox. In December of 2012, the singers performed the world premiere of a new carol, “Unto us a child is born,”  written by renowned composer Peter Neidmann for The Anglican Singers. The piece is currently in publication by Paraclete Press.

The Singers have served as resident choir for a week at a time at several cathedrals in England: Bristol Cathedral in 2012, Ely Cathedral in 2014 and Truro and Exeter Cathedrals in 2017. They are planning another trip to England in 2023.

The independently organized Anglican Singers are fortunate to have been guest Artists-in-Residence since 1996 at historic St. James Episcopal Church in New London, Connecticut.

Read more at anglicansingers.org.

What is Choral Evensong? “Evensong … is a very tiny fragment of something else:  it is a fragment of the worship which is offered to God by Christian people every hour in every part of the world. When you come to Evensong here it is as if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress — a conversation between God and people which began long before you were born and will go on long after you are dead.”