St Bartholomew’s today, Enniskillen tomorrow, Limerick Wednesday, Easy to Play Hymns for Holy Week and Easter, Religious Programmes for Holy Week and Easter on RTE, New single from Ben Cantelon; Festival Eucharist for Trinity Chapel Choir
St Bartholomew’s today
This evening (Saturday) at 8pm in St Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin, the Gaudete Singers, directed by David Leigh, will give a concert of works by Stravinsky, Bruckner, Gabrieli and Schutz.
Festival Eucharist for Trinity Chapel Choir
A Festival Eucharist to celebrate 250 years of Trinity Chapel Choir takes place on Sunday April 15 at 10.45 am in Trinity College Chapel. The celebrant will be Revd Darren McCallig, Dean of Residence and Chaplain. The preacher will be the Rt Revd Michael Burrows, Bishop of Cashel and Ossory. There will be a reception afterwards in the Provost’s House.
Enniskillen tomorrow
Palm Sunday will be celebrated tomorrow (Sunday) evening in St Macartin’s Cathedral, Enniskillen, with a performance of Stainer’s Crucifixion by the Armagh City Choir. This will be the first in a series of Holy Week services in the cathedral where each evening, at 7.30pm, there will be a Service of Meditation and Hymns with a different theme each evening.
Limerick Wednesday
The lunchtime recital on Wednesday in St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, will be ‘Music for Voices’ by Voci de Vecci and in the evening, at 8pm, the National Chamber Choir will sing in Calary parish church, Co. Wicklow.
Easy to Play Hymns for Holy Week and Easter Now Available
Do you or your organist struggle with playing the hymns at Easter? Does your congregation struggle with singing hymns that are too high?
The struggle is over, for the Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Church Music Committee has just published five of the most popular hymns used in Holy Week and Easter. These hymns have been arranged simply for easy playing and in lower keys so that congregations find them easy to sing.The arrangements are available on the church music committee’s website www.churchmusicdublin.org.
For instance, everyone knows that playing Jesus Christ is risen today is difficult and it doesn’t help that it’s only used once or twice a year. So don’t worry this Easter, there is an easy to play version in a lower key.
They are available now free of charge. Go to the website, go to the education page and the five hymn tunes are there. Print off each tune and it’s all yours.
The hymns available are:
When I survey the wondrous cross – Rockingham – in D
All glory, laud and honour – St Theodulph – 2 versions in Bb and C
Jesus Christ is risen today – Easter Hymn – in Bb
The whole bright world rejoices OR Light’s glittering morn – Lasst uns erfreuen (Easter Song) – in D
Thine be the glory – Maccabaeus – in C
The committee is planning to publish more of these for each season of the church’s year and this is our first time to try this idea and so would welcome your feedback in order to make improvements for the future.
Religious Programmes for Holy Week and Easter on RTE
Sunday 1st April – Palm Sunday
07.00-09.00: ‘Gloria’. Tim Thurston introduces seasonal sacred music, including a Russian Orthodox Passion, Bach’s Passion Chorales for organ and Allegri’s Miserere. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
11.00-11.45: Passiontide Reflection led by the Revd Canon Maureen Ryan. (RTÉ Radio One LW 252 / Digital platforms)
Friday 6th April – Good Friday 13.45-14.00: ‘Good Friday and So Forth – A Note on the Compassion Narrative’, written and presented by Aidan Mathews. (RTE Radio One. All wavelengths.)
14.00-15.00: ‘Music for Good Friday With Tim Thurston’. Music from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and Allegri’s Miserere. (RTE Radio 1 FM)
14.00-14.30: ‘Why Did He Die? A Special Edition of The God Slot for Good Friday’.Presenter Eileen Dunne is joined by the Abbot of Glenstal, Mark Patrick Hederman; lecturer in Theology & Ethics and film critic, Barry McMillan; Emeritus Professor of Theology at the University of Wales and Visiting Professor at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, Mary Grey; and the Rector of Kill o’ the Grange, Blackrock, the Revd Ferran Glenfield. All aspects of the death of Jesus are examined, from traditional Theology to the Hollywood treatment of the event to its impact on our world. The programme is repeated on all wave-lengths at 22.00 and an extended edition will be available on podcast. (RTE Radio 1 Live Extra / 252 LW)
14.30-15.00: ‘The Tullamore Passion’. The Rev. William Hayes, Msgr Sean Heaney, the Rev. Rosemary Lindsay, the Revd Canon Gerald Field, Fr Shane Crombie and Pastor Oladipo Niran lead Christians of all denominations in a commemoration of the Passion of Christ, through readings, reflections, music and prayer, on the streets of Tullamore, Co. Offaly. (RTE Radio 1 Live Extra / 252 LW)
20.00-22.00: The Lyric Concert presented by Paul Herriott. Haydn: Seven Last Words on the Cross. RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet with Denis Conway (narrator), recorded in the Unitarian Church in Dublin in 2010; Mozart: Requiem: Ton Koopman conducts the Amsterdam Baroque Chorus and Orchestra with soloists Dorothee Mields, Bogna Bartosz, Tilman Lichdi and Klaus Mertens. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Sunday 8th April – Easter Sunday
07.00-09.00: ‘Gloria’. Tim Thurston offers a selection of sacred music to celebrate Easter Sunday. (RTE Lyric FM)
10.45-11.30: Easter Sunday Service of Worship (Cavan Presbyterian Church) (RTÉ Radio One LW252 / Digital Platforms)
11.35-12.20: Easter Sunday Service (Ballynahinch Methodist Choir, Co. Down.) (RTÉ One TV)
22.35-23.15: ‘Would You Believe?’ Mick Peelo goes on a journey to find out what we really know for certain about St Patrick with contributions from a range of speakers and scholars, including the Archbishop of Armagh, The Most Revd Alan Harper. (RTÉ One TV).
New single from Ben Cantelon
Ben Cantelon has just released a second single from his forthcoming album.
‘New Day’ is another taster of the ‘Everything in Colour’, which releases worldwide on 7 May.
It follows the release of worship anthem, Saviour of the World. Fans were treated to a lyric video for the single earlier in the month – www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfA4cxmOgTU
New Day is similarly Christ-focused, celebrating the rebirth offered thanks to Christ’s death and resurrection and calling out to listeners to see the potential promised by salvation.
Ben’s happy with his forthcoming album and equally positive about worship in general.
“I think these are exciting times for sung worship,” he says.
“When life is tough it is tempting to reduce things to black and white, to retreat to simplistic formulas – like seeing nothing but gloom or refusing to admit the struggles we face.
“But worship has a role to play in introducing the colour: worship reminds us that God is far bigger than any of us, far brighter than any of our gloom and far more real than any of our denial.”