Job of the Week: The church that lost all its organists …
News… remember this? … is advertising for a peculiar new position:
St Albans Cathedral exists to glorify God and, inspired by the witness of Alban, proclaim Christ’s message of love
St Albans Cathedral is seeking to appoint an Assistant Director of Music & Music Partnerships to start summer term 2025
We are seeking someone passionate about the English choral tradition of this Benedictine Abbey and also motivated by new possibilities in cathedral music
We are committed to nurturing a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion and want to encourage applications from a diverse range of people.
DEI or DIE?
Bargepole.
Now, lets think WHY this Abbey Church has lost it’s organists.
Could it be anything to do with it’s senior clergy’s mission to rebrand their worship and dumb down the professional offerings of the choir and organists?
Odd therefore that former Director of Music Andrew Lucas has jumped from this frying pan into the fire that is Winchester and their public dumbing down debacle losing similar distinguished organists in the CofE mission to destroy musical traditions and standards in these once highly regarded Cathedral Foundations.
Which Cathedral will be next? You can be sure it will be one with a female Dean
I’m just wondering how a diverse organist would sound.
They would use a wide diversity of stops.
Do they even have a congregation? Doubt turgid Anglican hymns or fussy choral hooting will attract many…
Well, as a practising Christian and singer, that is not far from the truth. The people who don’t want change, don’t even go to a service, particularly a weekday Evensong be it thelr local parish church or a Sunday cathedral. Nothing more dispiriting than have more in the choir or even clergy taking part than in the congregation.
Using mostly the black notes ;-))
weekly renditions of O sacrum convivium by Olivier Messiaen
“For a church to lose one organist, may be regarded as a misfortune, to loose all of them looks like carelessness.” (Lady Bracknell in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in an ecclesiastical version)
Sounds like white men should not even apply for the gig unless they fit a marginalized subcategory.