Fifty four Maltese choristers from the St Paul Choral Society recently sang at six venues in London.
The choir presented a repertoire of some 18 composers in five different languages
The choir was invited by Malta’s High Commissioner to the UK Joseph Zammit Tabona to takepart in this year’s Malta Day celebrations. The choir took this opportunity to organise a choral tour ofLondon.
The SPCS’s first engagement was at St Paul’s Cathedral. The concert with which the SPCS opened its London programme consisted entirely of a cappella music from its repertoire by international composers (Marcello, Bruckner, Palestrina, Duruflé, Britten, Rachmaninov, Stainer, Viadana) and included two Maltese works: a hymn by Caruana and the anthem O How Amiable Are Thy Dwellings by Hugo Agius Muscat.
The church of St Michael Cornhill lies over the remains of a Roman basilica and is on the oldest site of Christian worship in London (c.200 AD).
Harold Darke, widely known for his carol In The Bleak Midwinter and his communion settings was organist for 50 years (1916-66) in this church.
Here, the SPCS was accompanied in its lunchtime concert by its organist Elisabeth Conrad, who played the recently renovated historic organ.
The concert included organ duets by Merkel and Mendelssohn played by Conrad and Agius Muscat and ended with Stanford’s Te Deum in B flat major.
Another highlight of the tour was the joint choral concert held with the London Forest Choir at the United Reform Church in Chingford.
The two choirs sang individually and together, giving the audience a 90-voice performance under the directorship of Agius Muscat and of the resident choir’s director, Jonathan Rathbone with Conrad and Leo Nicholson at the organ.
The High Mass at Westminster Cathedral on September 10 was the heart of the Malta Day celebrations in London. Under the direction of Agius Muscat, the choir members presented the Mass Ferħ il-Għid by Carmelo Scerri, in a four-voice arrangement by the choir’s director.
Mass, celebrated by the Archbishop of Malta’s delegate, Mgr Charles Cordina, was held under the patronage of the President of Malta and Mrs George Abela.
Malta Day is an annual national celebration also observed by the Maltese community in London, marking Malta’s National Day on September 8 (Il-Vitorja) to recall the victory of the Great Siege of Malta (1565) and other victories. Its religious significance for the Maltese people is the connection to a thanksgiving offering to Our Lady.
So, behind the eight yellow-marble columns holding up the huge canopy over the high altar, and under the splendid mosaics which emblazon the chapels and the vaulting of the sanctuary, the choir sang various well-known Maltese hymns (Infaħħru lil Marija among others) as well as works by Rachmaninov (Bogoroditsye Dyevo), Duruflé (Ubi Caritas), Franck (Panis Angelicus),and Parkinson (As I KneelBefore You), all in full choral arrangements.
Prior to this celebration in the cathedral, the choir entertained the company who annually congregate at the fair held in Westminster Cathedral Hall, with cheerful Maltese folksongs by Carmelo Pace, namely Lapsi,Btajjel and L-Imnarja.
Singing at Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Victories Roman Catholic Church, Kensington, concluded the four-day programme of events for the SPCS.
This Mass was celebratedby Bishop Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese ofWestminster. Mass was attended by Mr and Mrs Zammit Tabona. Other Maltese residents in London were present among the community that day.
By the end of the tour, the choir had presented a repertoireof some 18 composers in five different languages.