in association with the

BRADFORD CHORISTERS

CANADIAN TOUR – EASTER 2005

British Cathedral Choir to sing in Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal and Peterborough.

Bradford Cathedral is one of the five historic cathedrals in the county of Yorkshire. In common with three of the other cathedrals in the county, at Sheffield, Wakefield and Ripon, but unlike York Minster, it also serves as a Parish Church. Although it only became a cathedral when the Diocese of Bradford was formed in 1919, it has along and colourful history stretching back beyond the fifteenth century. During the Civil War in the seventeenth century, the sturdy church tower was protected from cannon balls fired by Royalist troops with woolsacks hung from the ramparts. The Choir of the cathedral draws choristers from a number of different schools across the City, as there is no choir school. Until 1981 the cathedral boasted two fully fledged choirs of men and boys, but at that time the Coates choir left the cathedral to pursue an independent and demanding schedule of work as an itinerant liturgical choir called the Bradford Choristers under the directorship first of the late Keith Rhodes, and latterly under Richard Darke. Meanwhile, the Hooper choir established itself as the main Cathedral choir under the directorships of successively Geoffrey Weaver and Alan Horsey. We are pleased that on this tour the Cathedral Choir are joined by members of the Bradford Choristers, thus sustaining and developing the historical links between the two groups. While the Bradford Choristers continue to take Cathedral Music to a variety of locations within the Diocese of Bradford and beyond, the Cathedral Choir maintains a full schedule of services mostly at the Cathedral. In addition to regular Sunday services, there are civic and diocesan occasions, as well as broadcasts and concerts. Choral evensong is sung on Mondays during school term time. We are delighted to be taking part in this our first trip to Canada. As a major part of our programmes we are bringing to Canada music by Yorkshire composers, including Kenneth Leighton, Sir Edward Bairstow, and Philip Moore. Bairstow’s magnificant anthem ‘Blessed City Heavenly Salem’ has a particular Bradford connection in that it was dedicated to the choirs of two Bradford churches – All Saints, and Heaton Parish Church. Programmes will also feature the music of Benjamin Britten and Malcolm Archer, recently appointed as Organist of St Paul’s Cathedral.

ANDREW TEAGUE - Choir Director and Cathedral Organist

Andrew is well known to Canadian audiences, especially in Ottawa, as a result of his time as Organist & Choirmaster at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Ottawa during the early nineties. On returning to the UK in 1994 to take up the post of Director of Music at St Elphin’s School, he also became Organist & Choirmaster at St Peter’s Church in Nottingham. In January 2003 he was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Bradford Cathedral, and in conjunction with this he continues his work as an Examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (recent tours to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan) and also as an Education Team Leader for the Royal School of Church Music. Originally trained at Oxford and Cambridge universities, he has also held organists posts in Brighton and Oxford. Since 1994 he has also been an Associate Director of the Anglican Chorale of Ottawa, a group he founded.