Author: Marianne Barton

Music highlights for this summer

Marianne Barton

There will be two performances of note at the final evensong of this year’s tour.

In September, Wimborne Minster will mark the 1300th anniversary of the death of St Cuthburga, patron saint of the Minster Church, and Laudemus! will anticipate this commemoration during the final Evensong of the 2025 tour. The anthem on Saturday 16th August will be Jeremy Jackman’s In laudationem Cuthburgae (‘In praise of Cuthburga’), commissioned by Laudemus! in 2005 for the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Minster.

Earlier in the service, the choir will give the première of a new set of evening canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis), also commissioned by Laudemus! from composer Philip Lawson (www.philiplawson.net). We hope very much that Philip can be present to hear the first performances of these pieces.

2025 tour details confirmed

Marianne Barton

All details are now in place for our 2025 tour to Dorset.

We will be visiting Shillingstone, Dorchester, Sturminster Marshall, Verwood (a first visit for Laudemus!) and Wimborne Minster. We will present the usual diverse mix of choral music, featuring composers from the 16th century right up to the present day, including a new commission (more about that in the next post).

For details of music and churches, please see the 2025 Tour Page.

Planning for August

Marianne Barton

Our 2024 tour is now something of a distant memory, but one or two things stand out in what was another successful and enjoyable week. The joint winners of our composing competition were both able to attend Evensong at Wimborne Minster on Saturday 10th August to hear their pieces performed: John Sturt’s evocative introit Te lucis ante terminum and David Harris’s stirring setting of Hail, gladdening light.

2024 was also memorable for our musical director being somewhat hors de combat with a ruptured achilles tendon. It was quite remarkable how Jeremy managed to negotiate the week so successfully with impaired mobility – at least he could drive!

We are now turning our attention in earnest to arrangements for 2025. Several churches have expressed interest in hosting us, and our tour managers, Peter and Elizabeth, are busy trying to construct a workable itinerary. We will update the tour page in due course.

Laudemus! tour: five weeks to go

Marianne Barton

In just over five weeks’ time, 30 singers will assemble in Blandford Forum ready for our 34th annual Choral Evensong tour of Dorset. As usual, the tour encompasses five different churches – Stalbridge, Swanage, Gussage All Saints, Symondsbury (a first visit) and Wimborne – offering services which combine Archbishop Cranmer’s beautiful prose with music spanning six centuries. For full details of what music we are singing in each church, please click 2024 Tour on the top menu bar.

We have a full complement of young choral scholars, funded through the generosity of the Michael James Music Trust, the Wimborne Minster Musical Heritage Trust, the Ann Jane Green Trust and donations from hundreds of well-wishers. All we need now is for the sun to continue to shine!

Competition winners

Marianne Barton

We are delighted to announce the result of our Composition Competition. After much discussion amongst the adjudicators, it was decided to share the first prize between two contenders: David Harris for Hail, gladdening light and John Sturt for Te lucis ante terminum. Both pieces will have their first performance at Wimborne Minster at Evensong on Saturday 10 August 2024, when we hope to be able to present the winning composers with their prize. Both anthems will subsequently be published by the Royal School of Church Music.

More information here: http://www.laudemus.org.uk/about/composition-competition/

Calling composers

Marianne Barton

There’s £1,000 to be won by a young composer in our Composition Competition, and there are just over four weeks to go before the closing date. Entries must be received before midnight on Wednesday 31 January 2024 so, if you are reading this and you have contact with any composers who will be under the age of 30 at that date, please point them in our direction. For more information, and the full Terms & Conditions, click the About Us tab on the top menu.

Composition competition

Marianne Barton

Hot on the heels of another very successful course comes news of a brand new initiative: a composition competition for composers under the age of thirty on 31 January 2024 (the closing date for receipt of entries). For full details, click About us from the top menu and select the competition tab. From there you will also be able to download the Terms & Conditions. Or click http://www.laudemus.org.uk/about/composition-competition/

Jigsaw complete!

Marianne Barton

We now have a full complement of choral scholars for this year’s course, and look forward tremendously to another week of glorious choral evensong music in beautiful Dorset churches.

If you are visiting Dorset in mid August, click 2023 Tour on the menu bar to see where we will be singing between 15th and 19th August, and what the music will be. Choral evensong is a uniquely wonderful experience, and not to be missed.

Missing piece of the 2023 jigsaw

Marianne Barton

Just one piece of the 2023 Laudemus jigsaw is missing: a tenor choral scholar! Everything else is now in place for our visit to Dorset this coming August: churches, clergy, repertoire, hymns, psalms and singers – apart from one young tenor, yet to be indentified!

Scholars have all their course costs paid apart from evening meals, and make a valuable contribution to the choir. They should be between 18 and 25 years old, confident singers and good sight-readers. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact the administrator, Marianne Barton.

Tenor needed

Marianne Barton

All is in place for our annual tour apart from the sudden and unexpected loss of a tenor! If you are a tenor with excellent sight-reading ability, or know one of these valuable people, please get in touch with Marianne (see Contact Us page). Dates (including pre-rehearsals) are Sunday 14th August to Sunday 21st August (or leaving Saturday night for those with commitments on Sunday morning). We can talk about money later, and come to a mutually acceptable arrangement.