Afternoon of classical choral music at Three-Cathedral Choirs Festival

Lovers of choral and classical music were treated to good choral tunes at the All Saints’ Anglican Church, Yaba, Lagos State, last Sunday afternoon when the annual Three-Cathedral Choirs Festival took place.

The three Anglican cathedrals’ choirs in metropolitan Lagos – the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina; Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja; and the Cathedral Church of St. Jude, Ebute Meta – performed individual and joint musical pieces to the delight of music lovers.

Each choir in rotation hosts and organises the programme annually.

Whilst St. Jude’s Choir in the Diocese of Lagos Mainland hosted this year’s event, last year, AVMCC, Ikeja in the Diocese of Lagos West was the host. Next year, the choral festival will move to Marina in the Diocese of Lagos.

The idea of the annual festival originated in England in the 18th century when the Cathedral Choirs of Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester held the first festival has since caught on in such places as England, Canada, the U.S.A., and Nigeria in the quest to maintain the highest standards of choral music in leading and energising congregational worship, deepening faith-formation, glorifying God, and edifying his church.

Led by their Masters of the Music, the three cathedral choirs performed soul-lifting musical pieces ranging from such classics as G. F. Handel’s Exceeding Glad Shall We Be and The King Shall Rejoice in Thy Strength to C.H.H. Perry’s O Praise Ye the Lord, Ayo Bankole’s O seun fun mi o, Vaughan William’s Te Deum in G-R, and John Rutter’s Psalm 150.

Spokesperson of the Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Lanre Idowu, described the choral singing as a “disciplined rendition of music where all the different choral voices – soprano, alto, tenor, and bass – are woven into a harmonious whole. The three-Cathderal Choirs festival is an occasion to feature the best of choral music available in our country.”