Sant’Ignazio, Rome
The Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School will shortly be touring Rome and giving a concert at Sant’Ignazio on Friday 22 February. Sant’Ignazio, one of Rome’s finest baroque churches, is famous for its Trompe l’oeil paintings including the illusionistic dome and the magnificent nave ceiling which can be seen in the photo above. The concert, including music by Monteverdi, Mozart and Palestrina, begins at 9pm and will last approximately one hour. Admission is free. A poster is available here.
Westminster Cathedral Choir will perform J.S. Bach’s St John Passion on Wednesday 20th March at 7.30pm in the Cathedral. Renowned tenor James Gilchrist will sing the part of the Evangelist and the well-known bass-baritone Robert Davies is Christus. The Cathedral Choir and Westminster Baroque Orchestra will be conducted by Martin Baker. This is a wonderful chance to hear the Cathedral’s superb choir performing one of the greatest pieces of Easter music ever written, with world-class soloists and baroque orchestra. Tickets are on sale now priced from £10 – £40, and are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk or 0844 847 1524. You can also buy tickets in person from the Cathedral Gift Shop. You can download the poster here.
The Dome of St Peter’s, The Vatican
The Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School will be touring Rome in February 2013. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Cappella Giulia, the choir which sings at all Capitular services in the Basilica of St Peter’s. During the course of the year, a number of international choirs have been invited to sing with the Cappella Giulia to mark its 5th centenary. The Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School is the first of these international choirs and will be joining the Cappella Giulia for Sung Mass and Vespers in St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday 24 February 2013. The Schola will also be singing a Concert at Sant’Ignazio on Friday 22 February. Further details will be available soon.
The Pantheon in Rome, photographed through a fisheye lens:
Photographs of this morning’s Pontifical Mass at the London Oratory for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrated by Bishop Peter Elliott, Auxiliary Bishop, Melbourne, Australia:
Some more photos from the London Oratory taken before and during Midnight Mass, as well as the re-gilded Cross and Orb atop the Dome and the Crib in St Wilfrid’s Chapel.
The Crib in St Wilfrid’s Chapel at the London Oratory, Christmas 2012
Merry Christmas!
Sarah Lamb as the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker
© Johan Persson/ROH 2012 (reproduced with permission)
Today marks the 120th birthday of the Nutcracker which received its first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on December 18, 1892. The Royal Ballet’s next performance in the current run, featuring the London Oratory Junior Choir and boys from the London Oratory Schola Cantorum singing in the Snowflake Chorus, will be this Sunday (23 December) at 1pm. The performances are sold out but it is worth checking for returns here.
The Oratory’s Christmas Carol Service takes place on Friday 21 December 2012 at 7.30pm.
The service takes the usual format of readings and traditional congregational carols as well as carols sung by the Oratory’s choirs, the professional Senior Choir as well as the Junior Choir which is made up of children. Amongst the choir carols this year are The great God of heaven (traditional English), Omnis mundus jucundetur (Piae Cantiones) and Quem pastores (traditional German) with the ‘Angel Voices’ of the Junior Choir singing from the gallery. The Senior Choir will sing Here is the little door by Howells and Angelus by Sir Edward Elgar (who was married at the Oratory). During Benediction the two choirs will combine as usual to sing The Three Kings by Cornelius as described here.
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