It’s been an eventful and fun summer, and I’ve been very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in several edifying musical gatherings. First off, in June I headed to the UK (these are becoming bi-annual trips!) to see friends and family in Colchester, Peterborough, and Truro. As always, I felt right back at home and enjoyed the cooler weather, many trips to cathedrals and pubs, and lots of top choral singing.
Not long after returning to America, I prepared to travel a few time zones west, to Seattle for the first time, in preparation for the 2022 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. I was lucky enough to play music of Howells and Mathias for the opening Evensong, under the direction of Zach Hemenway and the glorious choir of Epiphany Parish Seattle. You can read more about my experience at the Convention here:
Finally, in the middle of July I drove the five or so hours up to Durham, North Carolina, where I attended the final rehearsals and services of the 2022 RSCM (America) Carolina Course for Girls and Adults. This year happened to be the course’s 25th anniversary, and I had the immense honor of having been commissioned to write a set of Preces and Responses for use at the final Evensong of the week. It was a joy to hear my music sung by a choir of more than fifty voices, and I also had the pleasure of spending time with some of the choristers, young (over dinner) and old (over martinis) alike. The responses were commissioned by my old boss, Dr. Robert Poovey, with whom I worked as a Master’s student at St. Paul’s, Rochester, and he did an excellent job leading the choir. The recording from that final Evensong is on YouTube, and if you’d like to hear the P&R on their own, they can be heard here and here. Aside from my own selfish enjoyment of hearing my music in such a glorious building (Duke Chapel is worth a visit, if you’re ever in that part of the country), it was also encouraging to see so many young people with true enthusiasm about choral music. It reminded me of my own nerdy delight at being a part of RSCM courses, over 15 years ago.
Käthe (center) with proctors Mary and Emily, after a successful first RSCM America course in Denver, 2006
One other perk of being asked to write music was the chance to share it more widely with the choral world, and thanks to generous support from Sarah MacDonald and Selah Publishing, I’m pleased that the Preces and Responses are now available for purchase. I never thought I’d be a “real” composer (and still don’t feel I deserve that title in any way), but I wonder now if perhaps these responses should be accompanied by a set of evening canticles; stay tuned…
The beautiful title page of my new Responses, featuring an image made by the uber-talented Sarah MacDonald