AROUND 30 members of a borough church travelled to St Paul’s Cathedral at the weekend.
The Wokingham St Paul’s Church choir, whose ages range from teens to 80s, were in London to sing Choral Evensong.
The group, led by the church’s musical director Louise Turner, sings together regularly at services held at their Reading Road church.
But they also sing in different cathedrals once or twice a year, to cover times when cathedral choirs take a break.
A Wokingham St Paul’s Church choir member said: “We applied to St Paul’s, London, and sent a test recording to make sure that we were up to the standards of the cathedral evensong, and were then invited to sing.”
Choral Evensong is a relatively short service in the Anglican Church, that is almost entirely sung worship.
It includes singing a psalm, some words from the Bible and an anthem, liturgy and prayers.
The anthem the Wokingham choir sang was Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World), an old piece from English composer Thomas Tallis.
“If you sing with people for a number of years it becomes a community that you’re part of, as well as a musical ensemble,” said the choir member.
“We hope that the two or three hundred people who came to the cathedral and heard us sing found it beautiful.
“It was a very different experience as a singer because of the vastness of the space and the long echo, which makes the sound very rich.”
For information about St Paul’s Church, Wokingham, visit: spauls.co.uk
