Heart & Voice - My Spirit Sang All Day

The Joy of Life (Bonheur de Vivre) by Henri Matisse, 1905

It was a great pleasure to introduce Heart and Voice on Wednesday 23rd October 2025 at 12.45pm at St Stephen Walbrook - thirty minutes of sublime choral music and readings sung by our talented Choral Scholars. My script is below. 

Choral Classics - Our Journey

David Hockney, Pearlblossom Highway, 1986

It was a great joy to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook this week, five beautiful choral works and two readings on the theme 'Our Journey'. A recording of the service is on YouTube. My script is below:

Choral Classics - Phenomenal Women

Dorrit Black, Music, 1928 (Gallery of New South Wales)

It was a great joy to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook this week, five beautiful choral works and two readings on the theme 'Phenomenal Women', marking International Women's Day. A recording of the service is on YouTube. My script is below:

Choral Classics - My Beloved Spake

Egon Tschirch: Song of Songs, No. 11 (picture cycle 1923)

It was a great joy to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook this week, inspired by the text and themes of the Song of Songs. My script is below. Watch a recording below: 

Choral Classics - Ev'ry time I feel the spirit

James Keay-Bright, Trinity Redemption, 2013

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday 8th February 2023. My script is below. You can watch the recording below or on YouTube at this link.

Choral Classics - Celebrating John Donne

The last look of John Donne by Marsden Hartley (American, 1877-1943) - Brooklyn Museum

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday 25th January 2023. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.

Choral Classics - Farewell

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1970 (his final work)

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 23rd June 2022. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link. 

Choral Classics - Divine Love

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook, live in church on Thursday 17th February 2022 and broadcast online on Monday 21st February 2022. My script follows. You can watch a recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.

Choral Classics - Christ the King

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 25th November 2021 with music and readings celebrating ‘Christ the King’. In my script I tried to link the musical pieces with readings and commentary explaining the history and themes that emerge from the feast of Christ the King. You can watch a recording at this link.

Choral Classics - The Word of the Lord

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook, live in church on Thursday 28th October 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 1st November 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.

Even More than Hymns – Preparing for Choral Classics

Gerard Sekoto, Choir Singers

It was a great joy to lead Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on 23rd September, which you can watch at this link. Our theme then was ‘More than Hymns’ – Choral settings of some of our favourite hymns. Preparing for Choral Classics involves finding out about the music being performed and selecting two poems or readings that fit the theme, ensuring the choral works and the script to link them together lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes. This post contains some of the information I didn’t have enough time to include in the script for the service and shows some of the alternative options I considered for the two readings.

Choral Classics - More than Hymns

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook today, live in church on Thursday 23rd September 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 27th September 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.

Choral Classics - Corpus Christi

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook today, live in church on Thursday 3rd June 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 7th June 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.