RSCM edition of Songs of Praise - 2nd December 2007

BBC TV’s popular Songs of Praise programme is to celebrate the work of the Royal School of Church Music, which this year marks the 80th anniversary of its foundation. The special programme of music and interviews will be broadcast on BBC One on Advent Sunday 2nd December at 5.15pm.

A selection of advent hymns has been recorded at Hexham Abbey in Northumberland for the programme, sung by a massed choir of around 300 singers drawn from RSCM-affiliated churches all over the north of England. These include traditional favourites such as O come, O come Emmanuel, Long Ago Prophets Knew, and Hills of the North Rejoice, as well as Like a Candle Flame by Graham Kendrick, and a chorus from Handel’s Messiah.  The music was conducted by regular Songs of Praise conductor Gordon Stewart, a former director of the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir.

"It had not been possible to get the singers together before the evening of the recording,” said Gordon, “and I was delighted by the quality of the singing and the willingness of the singers to keep going until we got things right. There was a wide range of music to record, and the singers rose to all the challenges in the best traditions of the RSCM."

The RSCM Millennium Youth Choir, conducted by David Ogden, are also featured; last month they recorded Let all mortal flesh keep silence in St John’s and St Peter’s Church in Ladywood, Birmingham for Songs of Praise, as well as some Christmas carols to be broadcast during the following week’s programme on December 9th.

The programme also features a quartet of singers from an RSCM-affiliated choir at St Thomas’ Church in Brentwood called “SongCycle” – who as their name suggests, travel around by bike, and sing!  And we hear the story of Amanda Michell, a member of the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir, who was born profoundly deaf. She is determined not to let this affect her music studies, and is currently a choral scholar at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The programme is presented by Aled Jones, who joined the singers in Hexham Abbey for the recording.  

For further details, visit the Songs of Praise website, where a Factsheet will be available shortly before the broadcast.

PDFs of RSCM news releases are generally available here (go to "News Releases").

Photographs for media use are available from the Media & Picture Gallery (go to "RSCM picture gallery").

For further enquiries contact:
Stuart Robinson:
RSCM Media Relations Organiser
srobinson@rscm.com
T: 01492 556378 / 07831 827701

or

Heather Bamber
RSCM Marketing & Communications Administrator
E: hbamber@rscm.com
T: 01722 424847 or 07786 331364