Music in More Detail
Services are Sung during term-time. Two or three weeks holiday are taken after Christmas and Easter, there are one or two Sundays holiday at half-term, and the summer holiday extends from the second Sunday of July to the second Sunday of September. The Music and Service Schedule gives more precise details.
An anthem and a canticle are sung by the choir at Matins. At Communion, the choir sings Gradual and Communion Motets and one section of the Ordinary (the rest being sung to Merbecke).
Choral Evensong is a cathedral-style service.
Regular Choral Events
There are a number of special services each year, the most notable of which are three candle-lit services, The Advent Procession with Carols, at 6:30 on Advent Sunday, the Festival of Nine Lessons with Carols, at 6:30 on the 22nd or 23rd of December, and the Celebration of Candlemas, at 6:30 on the Sunday nearest to the 2nd February. The choir also sings the Fauré Requiem annually, at 6:30 on the Sunday nearest to All Saints and All Souls days.
Tours
The Choir visited Prague, giving two concerts, in May 2008. The Choir will be visiting Luxembourg and Lindau, on Lake Constance, in June 2010.
We also welcome visiting choirs at Nutfield. Several choirs from Prague and from Stockholm have given concerts or sung services in the church. Several English choirs have sung Choral Services in place of the resident choirs.
Funding
For the past 13 years the Choir has been most generously funded by a private donor. Following his death, we are actively seeking other funding, from donations or gifts or bequests. The Friends of the Nutfield Choir is a registered charity no. 290410 which can reclaim tax on gift-aided donations.