Don’t miss out! Wherever you are when this lands in your inbox, please take a few minutes to scroll down and keep up with RSCM’s latest news. 

Do join me in a couple of weeks for the first of our new online member events (details are below). And please help us to reach as many people as possible by sharing this newsletter with your choir, congregation and friends. A link allowing you to forward this message can be found at the foot of this email. Thank you. 

The RSCM has launched a programme of free monthly online events to support our members via informative presentations and discussions. 

The online events are being held at 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month, starting on 6 September 2023. Subjects will include Sunday by Sunday, church growth, choir practice, streaming church services, Voice for Life Digital and Hymnpact!® The first event will be led by Hugh Morris and will explore the new resources available in the Members Area of our website. 

Non-members are welcome to join us for a fee of £10 per event (refundable if you become a Member within a month of the event). Click the button below for more details and for booking information.  

From Thursday 7 to Friday 8 September, the RSCM will livestream a 24-hour drop-in performance of Handel’s Messiah from St George’s, Hanover Square. The event, which is being put on by the church and Labrador Events (part of the same organization as the Choir of the Earth), is to raise funds to repair the recently collapsed portico. 

Singers and instrumentalists are invited to drop in from 3pm on 7 September to 3pm the next day (paying £5.00 per hour or part hour) to join in with this continuous event. A star-studded list of conductors will change each hour throughout the performance, including Hugh Morris who will take over from 5pm to 6pm on Thursday. You can tune in to our YouTube channel here to join the livestream at any point, to watch, listen and even sing along. To find out more and to pre-register, click the button below. And please do tell anyone who loves the Messiah! 

You might also be interested in the RSCM publication Messiah! Hope and Salvation: the meaning of Handel’s masterpiece by Stephen Thornton. It makes a great gift! 25% of receipts from sales of the book made during the 24-hour drop-in Messiah will be donated to the portico appeal. 

The book is available to buy here.

In a partnership venture with the RSCM, the Prayer Book Society have commissioned a new anthem from composer Jack Oades, which will be sung for the first time this week at the Bath Course. Join us for the premiere at the concert on Saturday, 26 August at 7pm (full details available by clicking the button below) or listen to Bath Abbey’s livestream on Sunday afternoon. 

In addition, the PBS invite young people to take part in their annual Cranmer Awards, details of which can be found here.  

The RSCM’s Publishing department has been busy over the last month, publishing music for all types of choirs. Two-Part Anthems: 15 flexible anthems for the church year is suitable for a wide range of choirs, including school chapel choirs, treble evensongs in cathedrals, and parish choirs with limited resources. Click the button below to buy. It’s already flying off the shelves!

Christmas isn’t that far off. We have several new carols this year, including a couple from our best-selling composer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, and The Winter’s Brightening by Donna Deam, which was a finalist in the BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition in 2022. Visit our Christmas Carol Features page (by clicking here) for further details. And don’t forget RSCM Carols for Sopranos, Altos and Unison Lower Voices, which has just had its third printing. There are lots of recordings of the carols featured in the book on the product page, so you can listen before you buy. Just visit the page here, scroll down to the contents list and click on the items highlighted in blue.

RSCM Music Direct has a range of social media feeds. Do check them out for all the latest news on our publications.