Music News - June 2026 

In May, the choir enjoyed a ‘Bring-a-Friend’ music event at which the Junior Choristers invited their pals to a Friday rehearsal in order for them to observe the work of a chorister at St Mary’s. The children were invited to a tour of the organ loft and spent time trying on cassocks, before observing the evening rehearsal. This has resulted in two new choristers signing up as probationers, so a big thank you to Oli and Hannah for facilitating the evening.

June is a Bustin’ out all Over with joyous music of great variety. On the 4th (Corpus Christi) there will be a 6.30pm Choral Eucharist, at which you can hear the communion setting by Harold Darke and Elgar’s Ave Verum. Choral Eucharist at 10.30am on the 7th features the Missa Brevis by Grayston Ives. Ives, born in 1948, was a chorister at Ely Cathedral before joining the King’s Singers. The anthem is a pure gem, Verleih uns Frieden, by the child prodigy Felix Mendelssohn. The voluntary is a work by the Austrian composer and conductor, Anton Heiller. Tanz Toccata is a virtuosic romp which should not be missed! Choral Evensong on the 14th, features one of my most beloved anthems ‘God is gone up’ by the English composer Gerald Finzi. Finzi lost all three of his brothers in the First World War and turned to the poetry of Thomas Hardy as solace. His settings of Hardy’s poems are among the finest songs ever written. He was also an expert on apples, which he grew in his orchard at Ashmansworth in Hampshire. The service concludes with the voluntary ‘Church Bells Beyond the Stars’ by Celia McDowell, one of our most celebrated and wonderful living composers.

Lunchtime concerts continue throughout June, at 1.10pm, with refreshments available from 12.30pm. Krassimira Jeliazkova (violin) and Elizabeth Mucha (piano) return on the 3rd and their recitals are always popular and remarkably virtuosic. Our very own Oli King gives a recital on the 10th, as long as the organ behaves (it really doesn’t like the dry weather, so pray for a spot of rain in the preceding week). On the 17th we are delighted to welcome students from Saffron Walden County High School to what is always a tremendously popular concert. On the 24th, organist Ivan Lindford is performing, a newcomer to St Mary’s, so please lend him your support.

Philip Sunderland