Avery public furore over the withdrawal of hiring arrangements at the designated National Musicians’ Church in the City of London, St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, a venue much used by professional performers and performing groups – has led to an initiative to re-invigorate the use of the capital's churches for rehearsals and concerts. Launched by the Diocese of London in November, the ‘Musicians’ Church’ website facilitates the rental of many of the capital's church buildings while also showcasing events, with prominent venues signed up including St Bartholomew the Great and St Giles Cripplegate.
St Sepulchre's is dedicated to the memory of British musicians and houses the ashes of Proms legend Sir Henry Wood. It counts among its patrons composers Judith Weir (the current Master of the Queen's Music) and John Rutter. The latter's support comes with wry reflections on developments at St Sepulchre's, including the idea that the church may have gone ‘from having one of the highest footfalls for professional musicians in London to one of the lowest’.
In a statement, the Diocese of London indicates that, following the moves by St Sepulchre's under-priest-in-charge David Ingall to ban ‘non-religious hiring’ of the church, the acting Bishop of London Pete Broadbent ‘reflected on the Church's service to musicians, and recognised that many churches in the City of London and beyond have spare capacity to welcome and host musicians’.
‘We now have 20 churches on board and this number's expanding rapidly,’ says Musicians’ Church project manager, Tom Shorter. ‘I'd hope the project can capitalise on the diversity that exists in the musical world, so that churches are open to musicians of all genres, backgrounds and abilities.’
MUSIC AND CHURCH
Sources suggest the diocesan authorities pressed St Sepulchre's to reverse its decision, which was based on a judgment that the development of through-the-week church activities wasn't compatible with a hiring function. It is understood that Ingall's appointment in 2013 was designed (by the now-retired Bishop of London, Richard Chartres) to re-establish St Sepulchre's as a fully-functioning worship venue after many years in which its primary role – in an area of London notably quiet at weekends – was as a rehearsal and concert location for professional musicians, netting perhaps £60,000 a year in rental charges. St Sepulchre's is one of the churches overseen by Holy Trinity Brompton, a beacon of the Anglican Church's evangelical wing.
One observer suggests Ingall was ‘knocked sideways’ by the public reaction to his church's decision, including an online petition and public statements from musical luminaries. Ingall's response has been to announce plans for ‘…a monthly concert series on Saturday evenings throughout 2018, a series of monthly concerts with reflections on music in worship from March 2018 and a festival of sacred and worship music for September 2018. We are also launching a new choir album, starting [an] initiative for new compositions performed each month at our Choral Evensong, plans for an instrumental residency, a programme of guest choirs at Evensong and running a Christmas choirs workshop.’
Ingall hopes for applications to take part in the new concert series from a range of amateur and professional performing groups. While hire charges are a thing of the past, performers will be invited to make a donation to the church and cover its direct costs.
‘We recognise that professional (and indeed some amateur) groups do have significant costs,’ he says, ‘and so will continue to allow and expect them to sell tickets at a price set by them.’
Repertoire will have to be submitted in advance, but Ingall anticipates that ‘the large majority of what is proposed would be agreed’.
BITTER IRONY
Andrew Morris, chair of the Friends of the Musicians’ Chapel at St Sepulchre's, is supportive of the new musical plans there and is reassured that ‘…the work of the Friends and their care of the Book of Remembrance [which records the deaths of prominent British musicians] remain at the heart of the mission of St Sepulchre's.’
Julian Lloyd Webber (another patron of the Diocese of London's Musicians’ Church project) is not so convinced about the moves at St Sepulchre's, which he says have ‘ridden roughshod’ over the church's role in professional music-making. ‘Apart from anything else, concerts in London churches are so important for young musicians starting a career… I know that from personal experience. At least one can say that Musicians’ Church is a positive outcome.’
Richard Robbins, formerly in the St Sepulchre's choir and creator of the petition protesting the halt to hiring, insists: ‘Plenty of other churches in London run their own activities and this kind of musical activity in parallel. I just don't buy it. The bitter irony is that we're talking about the National Musicians’ Church.’
