Choral Residency & Invitation to Services and Evensong

This week, three of our Emmanuel choristers and I have been at Duke University in choral residency as part of the Royal School of Church Music in America Carolina Course.  Each day, 30 choristers and 30 adults dedicate themselves to the study and perfection of Cathedral-level repertoire.  While most course participants come from parishes with strong music programs, a choral residency allows singers to achieve results beyond what is possible in most parish settings.  With 12-hour days dedicated to the preparation of music for a Sunday morning Eucharist and an afternoon Choral Evensong, the choristers are able to build and refine their musicianship, gain an understanding of the selected repertoire at a deep and skillful level, and then offer that music to the highest possible standard.  It is an exhausting and thrilling week of musical and spiritual growth.

In addition to the music, course participants form a spiritual community, with Morning Prayer, Eucharist, daily Evensong, and Compline as part of the rhythm of each day.  Hard work is rewarded with lots of fun activities for the girls in the afternoons and evenings, and the adults enjoy evenings of laughter and fellowship.

This weeklong intensive will culminate with the offering of two Sunday services at Duke Chapel that are open to all, an 11 A.M. Choral Eucharist and a 4 P.M. service of Choral Evensong.  I want to personally invite all to consider attending one or both of these services in support of our three Emmanuel choristers.  I, too, will be singing in the choir, and will serve as verger for the 4 P.M. service of Choral Evensong.  If you have ever attended Choral Evensong in an English Cathedral, or have ever had a desire to do so, what will happen on Sunday at 4 P.M. in the glorious and lofty space that is Duke Chapel, is the closest one can get to that mountaintop experience in this part of the country. 

Repertoire for the 11 A.M. service will include movements from Mozart’s Missa Brevis, as well as anthems by Eleanor Daley, Amy Beach, and Felix Mendelssohn.  At Choral Evensong worshippers will experience a musical feast with the luscious St. Paul Evening Canticles by Herbert Howells, anthems by Rheinberger and Beach, and Preces and Responses (sung prayers) by Kenneth Leighton.  The triumph of the week will be the offering of Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s monumental anthem, Ascribe unto the Lord, a 15-minute choral gem that essentially encapsulates our belief in God.  It is tremendously powerful and beautiful and hearing this anthem alone is worth the drive.

I want to thank the vestry and the Fran Drake Fund for making this incredible life-changing opportunity possible for our choristers.  If you cannot join us in person, but would still like to participate, live streams of each service are available at the following links:

Sunday Morning

https://www.youtube.com/live/4gEXv0LARoI?si=xXtjNiWPBGpGsHgi

Sunday Evening

https://www.youtube.com/live/s9jPn73-fxQ?si=7mIg9lHnZhnLa6qQ

Dr. Homer A. Ferguson III

Organist/Choirmaster