News and Notices

It started when a trendy new vicar arrived, raising eyebrows by preaching in a Hawaiian shirt, incorporating Leonard Cohen songs into his services, and dressing up as a circus clown.   Then Sam Norton went further, renaming ‘Evensong’ as ‘Evenspeak’ and introducing events such as ‘parish brekkie’.   But the final straw for many came […]

Famed sacred lyricist and composer J. Paul Williams passed away at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday, February 17, after being diagnosed in late January with Acute Myelocytic Leukemia. He was 72. He is survived by his wife, Donna, two sons, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. Paul has more than 700 choral works published […]

Richard Proulx passed away last night (Thursday, Feb 18) in Chicago after being hospitalized on Monday. His tremendous influence on church music in general, and on Catholic music in particular, has been far-reaching and exemplary. His friendship beginning in the early ’60s was probably the single most important influence on my  professional development, as I […]

February 28 will be the deadline for applications to the America Cantat 6 in Juiz de Fora, Brazil to be held next May 7 to 15. Choral festival with Ateliers, workshops and study tours, open to all kinds of choirs, vocal groups and conductors,. Choral presentations, daily evening and night concerts, cultural events, discussions and […]

In honor of its 40th anniversary, Wallingford Chorus is sponsoring a choral composition competition. The chorus is reaching out to experienced choral music composers to enter an original, unperformed piece of music for consideration. The winning piece will be debuted by the chorus at a future concert with the winning composer receiving a $500 prize. […]

Piers Morgan hit the buzzer before she had even completed the first line of the power ballad You Raise Me Up, as did Simon Cowell. The third judge, Amanda Holden, hung on until she reached the chorus.   Czikai is so aggrieved at her treatment – and in particular at what she sees as the […]