Tuesday, 1 February 2022

In Our Service: Thomas Hewitt Jones' new piece for the RSCM celebrating the Queen's Jubilee

HM the Queen
HM the Queen
In case you haven't noticed, this year the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee commemorating her 70 years on the throne (the longest reigning English and Scots monarch but a still a few years off King Louis XIV of France's European record). 

HM the Queen is the Royal Patron of the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) so to celebrate the jubilee the RSCM has commissioned a new choral work from Thomas Hewitt Jones.

The new piece, In Our Service is designed to be performed by a wide variety of groups, from cathedral and church choirs, choral societies and chamber choirs to community choirs and in schools. Hewitt Jones' text is intended to give the piece a life beyond 2022, and he based it on the Queen's own speeches. 

In Our Service is adaptable for different ensembles/situations - 4-part choir and organ, unison/2-part with piano, and a full symphonic orchestration available for hire. Music packs are available to download from the RSCM’s online shop (at £19.95), together with optional backing tracks, videos and other resources to inspire others to take part. 

And the RSCM not only wants groups to sing the piece but to share the performance, via the RSCM website or on social media with the hashtag #RSCMplatinum, and to encourage you there is a performance of the work by St Martins Voices, directed by Andrew Earis with organist Polina Sosnin, on the RSCM website.  

The RSCM's role is to nurture and sustain church music, and the RSCM hopes that this commission will draw attention to its wider role as well as encouraging groups to come together to sing. The weekend after the Jubilee, on 12 June 2022, is the RSCM's Music Sunday, an annual event that celebrates the role of church music in worship and the dedication of all church musicians, and aims to reach out into the community and join with others. 

Full details from the RSCM's website.


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