St Matthew’s Choir are holding a Come and Sing! day on Saturday, 19 September at their home church - St Matthew’s Chapel Allerton. Singers taking part will then be invited to sing with the choir on Sunday, 20 September, at the main Sunday service, celebrating St Matthew’s Feast Day.
Aljosa Skorja, Director of Music at St Matthew’s, says, “We’ve been hosting Come and Sing! days for three years now – it’s marvellous to see our beautiful church building bursting at the seams with music when we host these events.”
St Matthew’s Choir is unusual in that they focus primarily on repertoire written for upper-voices and are becoming one of the region’s best SSAA choirs. They are no strangers to hosting Come and Sing! events. Most recently they have held a very successful weekend on Mozart’s Requiem and a collaboration with Ad Hoc Baroque and Renaissance Voices on Buxtehude’s Membra Iesu Nostri.
The music on 19 September will include Bob Chilcott’s Peace Mass and John Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth. Chilcott’s work features an upper-voice choir (SSAA) in the leading role, with the lower voices only acting as supporting characters.
Revd David Robinson, Vicar of St Matthew’s says, “We couldn’t be more privileged to have such an amazing choir lead worship at this church. We welcome singers of all abilities to join us as we celebrate our patron saint.”
Aljosa Skorja (or Josh as he is known in England) is a Slovenian conductor and musicologist. In addition to his post at St Matthew’s he is also Music Director of the Otley Chamber Orchestra and Music Director designate of the Halifax Chamber Choir.
For more information and an application form (deadline 1 September), get in touch via saint.matts.choir@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page or tweet @SaintMattsChoir.
Aljosa Skorja, 07598 935558, saint.matts.choir@gmail.com, @AljosaSkorja
St Matthew’s Church, The Vicarage, Wood Lane, Chapel Allerton, Leeds, LS7 3QF