Cathedrals have music in their DNA, and as Anglicans, we hold firmly that making beautiful things (including beautiful sounds) is a worthwhile mission. For centuries, Anglican cathedrals have been centres of immersive music education, and the product of that education has, in turn, been a means of engaging with the wider world.
Here at Christ Church Cathedral, we have a vision of being “an Anglican centre for spirituality, learning, culture, heritage and community” not only for our city, but for Vancouver Island and all of the islands and inlets that encompass our wider diocese.
How does this play out in our music ministry, and in particular, our music educational programming for young people?
Cathedral’s new youth choir gets high schoolers singing
In the fall of 2024, a small group of former young choristers and other high school singers from the cathedral community began rehearsing with assistant director of music Mark McDonald. This new youth choir for high school-aged students is proving to be a way to engage students with cathedral life while they work on honing their skills as musicians.
On Wednesday, June 4, the youth choir sang their first evensong service on their own. The future is bright for the next generation of choral singers!
Two informal performances by visiting high school choirs
On April 29, Grant High School (Portland, Oregon) sang a stunning concert for our Cathedral School students as part of their Canadian tour. A few weeks later, choirs from École Harrison (Brandon, Manitoba) enjoyed marveling at the cathedral’s architectural beauty, hearing the organ and singing in our generous acoustics. The Manitoba choir stayed and observed a cathedral choir rehearsal and were told a bit about the music programs and services here.
Kaleid Youth Choir Gala Concert
Over 400 choral singers from ten youth choirs across BC (including three local high school choirs from Oak Bay, Reynolds and Belmont) gathered in the cathedral on the first Saturday in May for Kaleid Choral Festival’s Hope Lingers Here gala concert. They were treated to a demonstration of the organ by our wonderful assistant director of music, Mark McDonald, and I was asked to conduct a massed choir piece by Cree/Anglican composer Andrew Balfour.
Young Chorister Evensong at St Andrew’s Church, Sidney
On May 10, our own young choristers sang a special choral evensong service for the parishioners of St Andrew’s, Sidney. Last year, they did the same thing for the Anglican Parish of Salt Spring Island. This is one way the cathedral engages Anglicans beyond the cathedral parish.
Evensong with the Seattle Children’s Chorus
On May 25, the Seattle Children’s Chorus joined the cathedral schola for evensong, singing their own arrangement of John Rutter’s The Lord bless you and keep you and a fantastic arrangement of All creatures of our God and king by Seattle composer David Hendrix. Could this experience inspire any of these students to one day enroll at the University of Victoria or the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and seek out musical opportunities at the cathedral?
Young chorister installations
On Sunday, June 1, we installed three new young choristers. This is the ministry for which I am most proud. These young musicians rehearse four mornings a week and sing evensong every Wednesday during the school term. They are formed by the reciting of psalms, the singing of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, through teamwork, striving for excellence and the joy of choral singing. During their time in the choir, they become part of the very fabric of the cathedral church.
And more…
In addition to all this, we also welcomed several elementary and high school classes for cathedral tours. The tours were led by Jonathan Thomas, dean of the cathedral, organ scholar Amiel Elfert and Mark McDonald, the cathedral’s assistant director of music, and covered everything from church history and architecture to spirituality and music.
And if all that doesn’t seem like enough, the cathedral bells were pealing more regularly over the Victoria Day long weekend because of a visiting bellringers’ weekend brought together by the cathedral’s wonderful change ringers. In fact, this is another growing area of connection with our Cathedral School, as a new program is underway for young bell ringers.
We live in a society where music education is undervalued and constantly under threat. We live in a region recently labelled “the most secular diocese in North America.” We also live in a world where loneliness has become an epidemic. Why? Social media, an individualistic society and a lack of spiritual life are just some of the reasons.
I am proud to be an Anglican because we measure the value of music making for the beauty it brings into the world and not for the money it makes. I am proud to lead the music at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria because every time a new person comes through the doors to make music, it feels like a win. I am proud of the choral programs we offer because they provide purpose, meaning and connection, all while forming young people in the ancient practices and texts of our faith tradition.
