This newsletter has been sponsored by Runbysingers Singing Holidays – who have been arranging fully bonded singing holidays and workshops abroad and in the UK for 20 years. Booking for their new season has just started here at www.runbysingers.org. Highlights for 2024 include Venice, Vienna - and Salisbury!

We are pleased to share details of the second set of ‘RSCM Lectures’ offered as part of the Institute of Sacred Music at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, which begin on 6 February. You can now book a free ticket to attend (online or in person) directly via their events page, which you reach by clicking the button below. They are really stimulating sessions.

Looking for a new challenge in 2024? We have just relaunched the Organ programme of Church Music Skills (CMS), our training course for individuals who are, or wish to be, actively involved in leading and supporting music within their church communities. CMS has moved online to the RSCM Hub, providing a more flexible, engaging and interactive learning experience. Register before 31 March 2024 to benefit from a special introductory registration fee. Click here to find out more.

This year is the centenary of the death of Charles Villiers Stanford. RSCM Publications has possibly the largest collection of Stanford’s church music, including reprints in the Cathedral Music series, and new editions by the leading Stanford authority, Professor Jeremy Dibble. This includes works previously unpublished, including Song to the Soul and a set of Preces and Responses using themes from various Stanford works, adapted and arranged by Professor Dibble.

The RSCM is planning several events throughout the year, including a Stanford Singing Break in July and culminating with Stanford’s birth date in September. Further details will be posted on our website and, in the meantime, you can view our selection of Stanford publications by clicking the button below.

Easter is very early this year, so if you haven’t already planned for Passiontide, now’s the time! Our new Passiontide devotion, Last Words of Love, now has performance and rehearsal tracks of all the anthems in the book to aid your choir learn their parts. Have a listen here! You can also download the order of service for local use.

For those singing in performances of Stainer’s The Crucifixion, don’t forget that our new critical edition is compatible, page for page and bar for bar, with older editions, but has an interesting introduction by Stainer expert Jeremy Dibble and pages of Stainer’s hand-written manuscript. It also contains the missing verse of ‘All for Jesus’ that all other editions have missed out. Click here to find out more.

Hugh will be setting off on 13 February for a four-week trip to visit RSCM New Zealand and then RSCM Australia. There are many events, meetings and services planned, and you can keep track of his travels by following Hugh’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Do please share our posts to give us as much visibility as possible.