Private School News

The Choir of Lancing College: Performance at Westminster Abbey

The Choir of Lancing College:
Performance at Westminster Abbey
Tuesday 5th January

The magnificent Choir of Lancing College sang Choral Evensong in Westminster Abbey on 5th January. It was the feast day of Edward the Confessor, founder of the Abbey, and also the eve of the Epiphany, so the music chosen reflected this.
•Introit ‘Ab Oriente Venerunt Magi’ by the 16th century composer Jacob Handl
•C major ‘Evening Canticles’ by the 20th century composer, Stanford
•The splendid ceremonial anthem ‘Thou, O God, Art Praised in Sion’ by another 20th century composer, Malcolm Boyle.

The evensong was open to all members of the public.

Neil Cox has been Director of Music of Lancing College Chapel since 1978, and is responsible for its exceptional standard.

Later this term, on Wednesday 24th March, the Choir will sing in the other great royal foundation, St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Lancing College Choir

There is a long tradition of excellence in choral singing at Lancing College. Major composers have written music for the choir: Benjamin Britten composed his cantata Saint Nicolas for Lancing’s centenary in 1948, and the College celebrated its 150th anniversary by commissioning Arvo Pärt to write a piece marking the event. The Choir gave the first performance of this new work, Triodion, in Westminster Abbey in April 1998.

Lancing College Choir, which consists of around fifty boys and girls, includes former cathedral choristers in its ranks. A number of young singers have been trained in the choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, St George’s Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral and Chichester Cathedral. The Choir has sung in concerts and services in major continental churches and cathedrals. In Italy, for example, they have sung in St. Mark’s Basilica (Venice), and the Frari Church and St Anthony’s Basilica (Padua).

Many young musicians from Lancing have gone on to take up choral and organ scholarships at the universities of Cambridge (King’s College and St John’s College), Oxford (Magdalen College and Merton College) and London (Royal Holloway College and King’s College), as well as Gloucester Cathedral and Truro Cathedral.

The Chapel

The famous Chapel at Lancing, the largest and one of the finest school chapels in the world, is home to the Choir. It is a magnificent neo-Gothic, Grade I listed building and is an impressive Sussex landmark. Over 90 foot in height, its internal vaults are matched in England only by those at Westminster Abbey and York Minster. It houses three fine organs, the Elliott chamber organ, the “two manual” Frobenius organ and the “four manual” Walker organ. Neil Cox oversaw the design and installation of the Walker and Frobenius organs in the Chapel in 1986.