Rehearsals are usually on Tuesday lunchtimes and Wednesday evenings. You are not expected to attend both, but you can if you wish. Neither are you expected to participate in all our performances. We also offer remote participation in rehearsals via MS Teams (but you have to contact us for details). We also operate a chamber choir as and when needed, which is currently rehearsing on Thursday early evenings. We have occasional extended rehearsals / workshops on a Saturday or Sunday. Please scroll down to see dates, times and locations of rehearsals.
See the schedule of rehearsals below.
Repertoire
The main work for the summer term is The Holy Spirt Mass by Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen, which we will perform on 17 July at St John’s Smith Square along with music by British composers that celebrate the mixing of the Latin and English liturgies in sacred choral music. Some of these additional works will be performed by our chamber choir, some by the full choir:
Chamber choir
• Come Holy Spirit – Thomas Tallis chamber
• Bow thine ear O Lord – William Byrd chamber
• Hear my prayer O Lord – Henry Purcell chamber
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ComeHolyGhost.pdf
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Byrd-Bow_thine_ear.pdf
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Purcell_Hear_my_prayer.pdf
Full choir
• I was glad – Hubert Parry
• Beati Quorum Via – Charles Villiers Stanford full
• Evening hymn – Henry Balfour Gardiner
• O clap your hands – Ralph Vaughan Williams
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/I-was-glad-Parry.pdf
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Beati_Quorum_Via.pdf
https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Balfour-Gardiner_Evening-Hymn.pdf
Other performances
We also singing at a big memorial service on 10 June and in a church service on 27 June. Music for the memorial service is:
• a Requiem Aeternam setting to Nimrod by Edward Elgar
• If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Tallis_-_If_ye_love_me.pdf
• I vow to thee my country https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/I-vow-to-thee-my-country.pdf;
• Lord of all hopefulness https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/LordOfAllHopefulness.pdf;
•The King of Love https://www.civilservicechoir.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The_King_of_Love_my_Shepherd_is.pdf
Music for the church service is Will Todd’s Jazz Missa Brevis, which we performed in concert last year.
Learning resources
If you would like to listen, a performance of Holy Spirit Mass by the commissioning choir is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCQHBwJ_Pselef3WmuHZhB_uOIgw8kKDv
There is a later commercial recording of Holy Spirit Mass by a Norwegian choir on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3554lRdGwylYShHIBUHQKA?si=TsCOiba0RBiWrFQJxbziCQ
The Musical Intervals Tutor: Listen (madelinesalocks.com)
Rehearsals (see further down for performances)
Rehearsals for the next few months are listed
| ~Rehearsals and performances still to come in 2025...~ | |||
| ~Date~ | ~Event~ | ~Time~ | ~Venue~ |
| 2nd September (Tuesday) | Start of our Autumn Repertoire - 'Carmina Burana' by Carl Orff and 'Feel the Spirit', a series of spirituals arranged by John Rutter | ||
| Weekly Tuesday lunchtime rehearsals | 12.45-1.45pm, every week (unless told otherwise) | Sacred Heart, Horseferry Rd, every week (unless told otherwise) | |
| 3rd September (Wednesday) | Weekly Wednesday evening rehearsals | 6.30pm-8pm, every week (unless told otherwise) | 100 Parliament Street, every week (unless told otherwise) |
| 18th October (Saturday) | Autumn Workshop #1 | 10am-5pm | Exact venue to be confirmed, anticipate somewhere in Westminster |
| 9th November (Sunday) | Remembrance Service & | 10.20-11.15am | Somerset House |
| Autumn Workshop #2 | 11.30am-5pm | 102 Petty France | |
| 22nd November (Saturday) | Dress Rehearsal & | Late afternoon and into the evening | Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square |
| Autumn Concert | |||
| 9th December (Tuesday) | Dress Rehearsal & | 4.40-4.55pm | Lancaster House |
| Performance at Civil Service Awards | 4.55-6.10pm | Lancaster House | |
| 16th December (Tuesday) | Dress Rehearsal & | 11.30am-1pm | St Stephen's, Rochester Row |
| Civil Service Choir's Annual Carol Service | 1-2pm | St Stephen's, Rochester Row | |
| Exact date in December to be confirmed | Dress Rehearsal & | Exact time to be confirmed, anticipate afternoon/evening | Emmanuel Centre, Marsham St |
| Annual Whitehall Carol Service | Emmanuel Centre, Marsham St | ||
| ~Further details and future dates will be confirmed in due course.~ | |||
