Candlemas week

That was quite a week…

I started on Sunday with the University of London Church Choir singing my Nunc Dimittis as part of the Candlemas service at St Mary’s, Eversholt Street. It’s the first time I’ve heard or been involved in a live performance of that piece, though it’s been online for two years and I know it was performed in Edinburgh in November by Voces Inauditae.

I also visited St Mary’s Addington for their sung Compline: not a journey I would ordinarily make for such a short service, but as I was already in town, and as they were licensing a curate, liturgical curiosity got the better of me.

The next few days felt like rather a flurry of activity, with a competition deadline, my usual Patreon end-of-month scramble, a trip to Southampton to sing new music by my friend Gemma, who I’ve known since I was fourteen, a tax return to complete, a meeting about a CD for London Gallery Quire, and so on and so forth. But I did find time to visit a friend yesterday — actually the date of Candlemas — and we lit some candles and listened to the Nunc dimittis again.

My intention to do some academic reading has rather fallen by the wayside again this week, but I did get a good bit done otherwise, and next week is looking a little quieter. London Gallery Quire is playing an Accession service on Sunday night at St Mary’s Rotherhithe, CLESO is visiting Southwark Cathedral on Monday evening (and the Tube strike has been called off, so my transport issues won’t be so bad), and I have a couple of social engagements, but other than that my schedule is much clearer. Just as well, because in addition to getting on with some actual reading, there are some composing deadlines looming large: I need to write something for Juice vocal ensemble’s visit to Aberdeen, and I’d like to enter another Canadian competition, and the Malta sacred choral composing competition. I also have been intending to write someting for Chris Hutchings’ Choirs Against Racism project, I have a super sekr1t commission to work on, and I’m still working on a West Gallery style piece setting a text by another Quire member. So that’s six pieces on my plate at the moment, ideally to finish by the end of the month, not counting another PhD-related one that I have an idea for but haven’t actually started writing, and which won’t really do for any of the competitions. I’ve only started two of those; if I can get rough ideas or even first drafts for two of the others sorted by the end of the week, that will be good progress.