Sorry for the late notice, but there has been a recent change in plans for the Cathedral Choir Alumni Recognition at St. Paul's this year. Our Alumni event is open to any current or former member of the Men, Girls, or Boys choir.

You are all invited to come and sing with the Cathedral Choir beginning with rehearsal at 10:00 am on Sunday, June 8th. The Eucharist is at 11:15. If you do not wish to sing, you are most welcome to join the congregation. You will be recognized at the 11:15 service for your contributions to the life of the Cathedral. At 1:00 pm, we will be having a "Dutch-treat" brunch at Cole's restaurant on Elmwood. A guest (or guests) is certainly welcome to join us. Please RSVP by June 4th by letting me know whether you will sing, join the congregation, and/or come to brunch (e-mail daniel.yox@gmail.com).

Thank you all for your dedication and support. Your membership in the choirs has been an important part of the spiritual life of the Cathedral and to the Western New York music community.

A Holy Week to Remember

This year, the Holy Week and Easter schedule was certainly memorable for the very active role that the choirs played in the services. The Men were busiest of all, singing two services on Palm Sunday, and services on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Holy Week. On Saturday, a morning rehearsal was followed by the Easter Vigil later that evening. Easter Day had the usual double service schedule in the morning, but a festival evensong that afternoon provided the final sprint in a marathon of services. The boys and the girls alternated during the week, but joined forces on Saturday and Sunday.

The music was ambitious and the schedule was grueling, but the choirs rose to to challenge superbly. Congratulations to Jeremy and members of the Cathedral Choirs for their dedication and hard work to help make this past Holy Week a moving and memorable one.

In case you would like to see what the choir is singing in the coming weeks, the music list is posted on the Cathedral's website.

Tell Us Your Stories

If you have any stories or memories of your experiences in any of the choirs, we would like to hear from you. The Alumni Association and members of the Cathedral parish are interested in what you have done after leaving the choirs and how your experiences at St. Paul's have shaped your life. We would also like to have some information about what you are doing now. One of our parishioners is in the process of writing a grant that may help to secure the choirs' future. The Cathedral Choirs have a distinguished roster of alumni who have made significant contributions in music, art, religion, family life, business, academics, law and politics at local, national, and international levels. While your stories will help in writing the grant, we would be honored simply if you can tell us what you have been doing!

Please feel free to add your stories as a comment to this blog. If you would like to post any photos, just e-mail them to me and I can post them here for you. If you would like to add your stories, but not have them posted to the blog, just send the information to me via e-mail. Along the way, I would like to get some pictures and memories that others can hear about and share as well.

Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys Receives Grant

At a special Evensong on Thursday January 25, Neil Page, a trustee of the Friends of Cathedral Music in Great Britain, presented the Men and Boys Choir with a check for $11,000. This grant is to support the choir's growing endowment, which is intended to maintain one of the oldest choirs of its kind in the country. We received some good publicity for the event from the Buffalo News and WKBW TV.

Many thanks to Drew Cantrill and Jeremy Bruns for their efforts in obtaining the grant and in helping to secure a long-term future for the choirs

Welcome Back Alumni

Greetings everyone!

I know it has been a while since you last heard from us. Last May's Alumni Reunion was a great success, but it came in the midst of  some key transitions. Since then, Dean Spangler called Jeremy Bruns to be our Organist/Choirmaster. Jeremy was our Assistant Organist from 1998 to 2001 and returned to us after serving most recently at St. Thomas Church in New York City as Associate Organist.

In September 2007, Avi Stein, our Assistant Organist/Choirmaster since 2006, moved to New York City to become the music director at St. Matthew & St. Timothy Church and to work on finishing his doctoral degree at Indiana University.

The Cathedral's website has been redesigned and this blog, along with all alumni news and information, will be included on the new site. We believe that this will be an excellent way of keeping you up to date on the choirs and their activities as well as the events at St. Paul's. I hope that you will feel free to make comments and suggestions so that we can be of greater service to you.