Brisbane Contempory Church Music Festival 2011
5 days of fabulous music and exploring the voices of contempory composers. Join is for a feast of divine music - 17-21 August 2011
About the Brisbane Contempory Church Music Festival
All events are in St John's Cathedral, Ann St Brisbane.
The Organist for all Festival events is Michael Fulcher and the choirs are conducted by Graeme Morton.
Admission to all events except the Festival Dinner is at the door immediately prior to the event.
Festival Dinner tickets must be purchased by Friday 12th August.
Phone the cathedral office 38352231 for details.
Review:
Contemporary Church Music: Surfing a Wave of New Sound
Roderick Rogers
Could I help with a Festival of Contemporary Church Music in St John's Cathedral in August? Hand out orders of service at Evensong and hand out programs at a concert or two? Some of the music might be brilliant, some might not be, and some, well ... but at least someone was doing something creative. The Very Revd Dr John Shepherd, Dean of Perth, would preach at the Services – maybe he would be interesting. I would hear each of the Cathedral's three choirs too. Of course I would help.
The first Evensong changed my outlook. The music amazed me – I found myself riding on a carpet of sound from composers such as Herbert Howells and Tarik O'Regan. I was fascinated by a sermon from Dr Shepherd whom I discovered had lectured music in Oxford, Cambridge, New York and Perth. He explored the role of contemporary music in worship, in renewing our thought and in finding relevance. His words set me thinking. I was born during the Second World War, so during my life-time the Church has tried to find relevance after that terrible event. It now seems that relevance was often misunderstood as identification with mediocrity so that the churches aimed at mediocrity. The pursuit of mediocrity showed in much of the music of the churches, where mindless feel-good music became known as contemporary music and the tradition of great church music was lost in many places.
In the second and third Festival services of Evensong I found myself not simply riding a carpet of sound but surfing it with more works by Howels and settings of the service by Graeme Morton, Robert Boughen and William McKie. Sometimes I was buffeted by the sound and experienced a mixture of excitement and terror reminiscent of a bad break at Burleigh. Hearing contemporary church music in its intended context of worship and in a great building was inspiring.
On Saturday and Sunday there were concerts and a sung Eucharist. The delight of the choir was visible as they premiered works by Michael Knopf and Paul Dean. These composers' spoke of the skill and bravery of the choirs in building a repertoire of contemporary music, and also of the significance of Graeme Morton in the global contemporary church music scene. Always performing splendidly, on Saturday Cathedral Organist Michael Fulcher particularly enthralled us with Naji Hakim's awe inspiring organ work Le Tombeau de Messiaen III.
John Shepherd's sermons were masterpieces of sermon-craft as he argued that genuinely contemporary church music demands new skills from and develops new skills in worshippers. The Festival was about experiencing the divine as we were lifted on carpets of sound or pummelled in a tumult of voices: it was about cool meditation on ethereal tones and joyful exuberance in the presence of God.
When the Festival comes around in 2012 I hope I will be asked to help again. I am now convinced that our worship and our minds can be enriched by genuinely contemporary church music.
