New Mass setting to premiere on St Peter’s Day
Thursday, 23rd June 2022
A new Mass setting by acclaimed Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan will receive its premiere at Westminster Abbey during Sung Eucharist at 5.00pm on St Peter’s Day, Wednesday 29th June 2022.
Everyone is welcome to attend the service, when the Mass of St Edward the Confessor will be sung by the Abbey’s internationally renowned Choir.
The 10-minute setting is dedicated to the Abbey’s Choir School, and was commissioned by parents of one of the 30 choristers who are educated there and who sing in the Choir alongside twelve professional adult singers. The School is the only one in the country dedicated solely to the education of choristers.
About St Peter’s Day
St Edward the Confessor, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England, re-founded the Abbey in 1065 when he re-built a Saxon church at Westminster and dedicated it to St Peter, making St Peter’s Day one of the most important festivals in the Abbey calendar.
New recording
As well as receiving its first performance at Wednesday’s service, the Mass will also be included on the Abbey Choir’s next CD – the latest in its successful partnership with Hyperion Records – where it will feature alongside music by Vaughan Williams and Tavener. Recording is under way and the disc is due for release in early 2023.
