Organ Voluntaries for International Women's Day
Guildford Cathedral is delighted to feature a month of organ music by female composers before and after choral services from Tuesday 8 February – Tuesday 8 March, International Women’s Day. The Organist, Sub Organist and Organ Scholar will share the playing of 42 voluntaries, and look forward to sharing wonderful repertoire. Sunday services are live streamed via the Cathedral’s Facebook page and other voluntaries can be heard in person by coming to Guildford Cathedral on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for Choral Evensong at 5.30 p.m. A full list of voluntaries is available below.
As part of this month of organ music, the Cathedral will also mark Women Composer Sunday 6 March by programming music by female composers for its Sunday services that day. The repertoire performed dates from the seventeenth century to the present day.
Katherine Dienes-Williams, Organist and Master of the Choristers, said “It is an exciting moment for a Cathedral to feature forty-two organ voluntaries by female composers over a month long period and we wanted to do this leading up to International Women’s Day on 8 March, As part of those celebrations, the girl choristers of the Cathedral Choir will be taking part in a performance of Cecilia McDowall’s ‘A Girl from Aleppo’ on Saturday 12 March at Guildford Cathedral in concert at 7 p.m. This concert too is very exciting for us as we will be singing unpublished works by Imogen Holst, to be heard altogether in concert for the first time in decades since their composition.”
Tuesday 08 February
Evensong
Pre: At Sunset - Emma Louise Ashford (1850-1930)
Post: Movement - Elisabeth Stirling (1819-1895)
Thursday 10 February
Evensong
Pre: Virgo Dei Genitrix - Paule Piedelievre (1902-1964)
Post: Lead, kindly light - Emma Louise Ashford (1850-1930)
Friday 11 February
Evensong
Pre: Andante in G - Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929)
Post: Fantasy (Suite) - Florence Price (1887-1953)
Sunday 13 February – The Third Sunday before Lent
Eucharist
Pre: Air (Suite) - Florence Price (1887-1953)
Post: Toccata (Suite) - Florence Price (1887-1953)
Sunday 20 February – The Second Sunday before Lent
Eucharist
Pre: Offertorium - Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Post: Edwllym (2017) - Solfa Carlile (b. 1985)
Evensong
Pre: Lied - Lucie Robert-Diessel (b. 1936)
Post: Adoration - Florence Price (1887-1953)
Monday 21 February
Evensong
Pre: Petite Canon - Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Post: Prélude - Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Tuesday 22 February
Evensong
Pre: Larghetto in c - Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929)
Post: Fugue - Mathilde von Kralik (1857-1944)
Thursday 24 February
Evensong
Pre: O Gott, du frommer Gott - Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Post: Prelude on an old Folk Tune - Amy Beach (1867-1944)
Friday 25 February
Evensong
Pre: Meditation - Hedwige Chrétien (1859-1944)
Post: Persisches Lied -Barbara Heller (b. 1936)
Sunday 27 February – The Sunday next before Lent
Eucharist
Pre: Allegro in D - Elizabeth Turner (b. ? - d. 1756)
Post: Tänzerische Weise (Presque Dansant) - Erzsébet Szönyi (1924-2019)
Evensong
Pre: Cannaris - Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)
Post: Celebration - Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951)
Monday 28 February
Evensong
Pre: Du, O schönes Weltgebäude! - Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Post: folding, unfolding - Pia Rose Scattergood (b. 1999)
Tuesday 01 March
Evensong
Pre: Aria in Bb - Elizabeth Turner (b. ? - d. 1756)
Post: Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält - Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951)
Thursday 03 March
Evensong
Pre: Improvisation - Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Post: O Gott, du frommer Gott - Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Friday 04 March
Evensong
Pre: Fughetta (Suite) - Florence Price (1887-1953)
Post: Annunciation IV - Judith Bingham (b. 1952)
Sunday 06 March – The First Sunday of Lent
Eucharist
Pre: Allegro in g - Elizabeth Turner (b. ? - d. 1756)
Post: Monument - Ivana Loudová (1941-2017)
Evensong
Pre: Attende, Domine - Jeanne Demessieux (1921-1968)
Post: Prelude and Fugue on 'O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid' - Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Monday 07 March
Evensong
Pre: Schwing dich auf - Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Post: Marche funèbre - Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Tuesday 08 March
Evensong
Pre: Andante grazioso - Kate Boundy (1863-1913)
Post: Voluntary No 1 - Theophania Cecil (1782-1879)