Christ Church Reading
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Choir and Music
Music at Christ Church
Hot off the Press !
Choir and Organist
Summer visits 2010
Liverpool Cathedral The Senior Choir will be singing the weekend services at Liverpool Cathedral on 21-22nd August.
St Paul's Cathedral, LondonOur Organist and Director of Music, Mervyn Williams, will be playing the organ for all services at St Paul's Cathedral, London for the week beginning 9 August.This is a singular honour rarely offered to visiting organists.
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The Choir
The choir of Christ Church is made up of two parts: The Trebles (or Junior Choir) and the Main Choir (or Senior Choir). Both choirs have their own timetable and programme of music and perform to a very high standard. The Trebles and the Main Choir often sing together, especially at church festivals such as Christmas and Easter.
Any child aged between 8 and 18 years old is welcome to join the Trebles who meet during school term time only. Trebles sing at three out of four morning services each month and are occasionally required at Evensong. The repertoire is challenging but fun and the training received is of a very high calibre leading to The Royal School of Church Music and other awards.
The whole choir form an SATB group open to all. They sing a cathedral style Choral Eucharist service at the beginning of each month and Choral Evensong on the second and fourth Sundays of each month; the choir also sings a Taize style evensong on the third Sunday. The repertoire is broad and challenging but choir members often talk of the great sense of achievement and enjoyment they derive from being part of the choir. Currently, membership is drawn from right across Berkshire.
The choir often joins forces with the choirs of Thatcham Parish Church and Dorchester Abbey to sing specially devised Three Choirs Festal Services; in 2008 the choir joined forces with Reading University Chamber Choir and Orchestra in a special service of Choral Evening Prayer. The choir sings regularly at cathedrals and in June 2008 will be giving a summer concert at Hedsor Church in Buckinghamshire. It is hoped that the choir will do some broadcasting work in the future.
Mervyn Williams
Mervyn Williams is well known as a recitalist and accompanist. He has given recitals and accompanied choirs in Germany, Holland, Austria, Norway, Belgium and America; he has also performed in numerous cathedrals across England and Wales and has made many recordings. Mervyn was a student of Dudley Holroyd at Bath Abbey and Richard Popplewell at the Royal college of Music and The Chapel Royal, St James' Palace, London. He was also sometime Director of Music at the University of London Church of Christ the King and Deputy Organist at Bristol Cathedral. Before moving to Reading, Mervyn was organist at Kingston Parish Church, London and Nantwich Parish Church, Cheshire.
