January 2007
The Ritual Choir has returned from a whirl-wind 48 hours in St. Joseph, Missouri, where they had been invited by Christ Episcopal Church to commemorate the retirement of their Rector, Fr Sidney Breese.  While in St. Joseph, the Ritual Choir presented 3 Gregorian Chant presentations.  The first was on the local news programme "Live at 5", which was the TV debut for the Ritual Choir.  The following day, the choir presented a sampling of their recital programme to a packed lecture room at Missouri Western State University, following which, faculty and students participated in a question and answer session.  In the evening, a standing room only crowd packed into Christ Church to hear the Ritual Choir present a programme of Candlemas music.  The recital started in candlelight, as the Ritual Choir processed singing with the very beautiful antiphon, "Lumen Revelationem" -- "A light to lighten the Gentiles".   The programme was comprised of the propers for the days, as well as music from the Divine Offices for the day, culminating in the meditative Marian anthems -- almost never heard together.  After the recital, the Ritual Choir was feted at a reception in their honour in the Church hall.

The recital came about through a trip to the Abbey of Solesmes in France this past summer, where SMM's Cantor, Rob Castle, took a course in chant along with Bill McMurray, Christ Church's organist.  Over beer in the café across from the gates to Solesmes, McMurray -- a long time fan of Healey Willan and SMM -- invited the Ritual Choir to come to St. Joseph.  The trip was funded by the Allied Arts Fund and the Missouri Arts Council.