This day of lectures consists of three of Patrick's most popular lectures, including glorious music and beautiful paintings:-
Entertaining Angels Unawares: Angels in Music and Art.
A Christmas Special: Michael Praetorius.
The Music of Epiphany: Gifts and Stars.
This day of lectures consists of three of Patrick's most popular lectures, including glorious music and beautiful paintings:-
1. Entertaining Angels Unawares: Angels in Music and Art.
Angels don’t speak, they sing. And they have inspired much wonderful music. Patrick will investigate their roles as guardians, messengers and fighters through imaginative music by Britten, Elgar and Mendelssohn. Angelic words also feature in regularly repeated liturgical texts that Patrick sings daily in St Paul’s Cathedral, such as the Sanctus and Te Deum. These will give us an opportunity to explore and enjoy angelic music by composers such as Bach, Mozart and Walton. Patrick will call on some of the world’s finest art and poetry to further expand this journey into the heavenly realm.
2. A Christmas Special: Michael Praetorius.
Michael Praetorius’s music was celebrated again in his anniversary year of 2021, and thanks to a wonderful 1994 disc from the Gabrieli Consort, his music for Christmas has become his most loved calling card.
3. The Music of Epiphany: Gifts and Stars.
Epiphany is a feast of abundance and transformations, set in the very dead of winter. As well as focusing on the visit of the Wise Men and the extravagant gifts they bring, the season also considers Jesus’ Baptism and his first miracle at the Wedding at Cana. T. S. Eliot’s beloved poem The Journey of the Magi leads us to considerations of the dreams and journeys that also feature in Matthew’s gospel account. There is much wonderful music to illustrate this, and Patrick will also plunder the worlds of art and poetry to portray this rich array of stars, camels and gold. Featuring music by Palestrina, Byrd, Mendelssohn and Britten.
Date: Tuesday 26th November 2024
Time: 10:30 for 10:45 am – 3:30pm
Cost: £38
Contact by email: psavours@gmail.com
Patrick Craig is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral. For twenty years he combined this with an international career singing over a thousand concerts with the world-renowned early music consort The Tallis Scholars. He also sings with the award-winning group The Cardinall’s Musick. He founded and conducts this country’s leading all-female professional choir, Aurora Nova. He has conducted concerts for the BBC Proms, the Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals, and with the City of London Sinfonia.
As a Cambridge history graduate with a lifelong interest in the arts, he has gone on to lead choral workshops for amateur singers across the world, where he places music in its historical and cultural context. He regularly lectures for the St Paul’s Adult Education programme and for John Hall’s Venice Courses, which have allowed him to incorporate his interests in theology, art and poetry.
In 2020, when his singing and conducting work disappeared overnight as a result of the Covid pandemic, Patrick poured all his experience into online presentations which have raised vital funds for the Help Musicians Charity.
