Music News - July 2026 

One of the great achievements of our Director of Music and SMMA Chairman, is the ongoing education of the young people in the church music groups. Junior Choristers receive training each week and have been rewarded for successful completion of their ribbon training by being given their medals at the RSCM Evensong on 14th June. New choral scholars were also admitted into the choir following their probationary period. It is a tribute to Oli’s vision that many of the choral scholars and members of the adult choir started their training with Joyful Noise and have continued through the ranks with a commendable commitment and dedication to music at the church.

July offers some musical highlights. At the morning Communion on the 5th July , the anthem is the Cantique de Jean Racine, a competition-winning composition by the nineteen year-old Gabriel Fauré. On the 12th at Evensong there is a chance to hear the anthem Blessed be the God and Father, by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, grandson of Charles Wesley. His middle name derived from his father’s lifelong admiration for the music of Bach. At communion on the 19th, the anthem is Irish Blessing by the cherished living composer Bob Chilcott, a chorister at King’s and a former member of the King’s Singers.

Lunchtime concerts on Wednesdays are again in full swing. The Mitchinson Ensemble perform on the 1st , Anna Le Hair (piano) and Arwen Newband (violin) on the 8th, and Veronica Henderson (cello) and Liz Mucha (piano) on the 22nd . These artists have all returned by popular demand and on the 15th we have a new ensemble, the Curlew String Quartet. Please do come to these wonderful recitals. Refreshments are available from 12.30am – and make sure that you sample the cakes, sandwiches and scones, baked to a standard to make Mary Berry happy.

Friday 10th July at 4.30 pm is also an important date. Joyful Noise have been working extremely hard all term and will be performing the Saffron Walden World Premiere of The Princess and the Pea in the Parish Rooms. It promises to be another significant event in the development of music at St Mary’s.

Philip Sunderland