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June Festival Final Week

Robert — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 01:40:56 +0000

The warm mid-June Monday evening past, about 120 of us heard the technical brilliance, musicality and sheer joy of David Briggs (www.david-briggs.org) in his spectacular Inaugural Recital on our new Organ. I think every pipe, pedal, key and stop was played, individually and all together!

Neil Page introduces David Briggs

Starting with a Fanfare by Graham Keitch, the Bach Prelude & Fugue showed the new Organ’s clarity in the classical repertoire, while the delicate Haydn pieces for musical clock showed its gentler colours. Briggs’ own variations on Greensleeves illustrated a different palette again, while the familiar Cocker Tuba Tune did what it said and the MacDowell Sea Pieces touched the romantic notes.

The words of Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Scotty, “She cannae take any more, Captain!”, came to my mind as David Briggs reached the climax of his transcription of Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (made famous by Disney’s Fantasia) to end the first half of his tremendous Opening Recital. Thankfully it could, and after the interval David returned to talk about his training in France in the art of improvisation. In response to ideas from the audience, he created an Organ Symphony from “I got rhythm”, “We’ll meet again” and “Westminster Chimes”. Bach’s Air on a G string provided a calming encore to conclude a wonderful evening celebrating what can now properly be called the St Michael’s Organ.

David Briggs at St Michael’s

Many thanks to Tim Trenchard, our organ builder, for a year-long labour of love cleaning, renewing, reconfiguring, installing, voicing and tuning, to Nigel Browne for overseeing the project, to Neil Page for arranging such a fitting opening Recital, and to all who have encouraged and supported us in this task. David spoke movingly about the history of this organ in Birmingham, much of it played over 5 decades by his grandfather, and his pleasure at seeing it rebuilt in our beautiful church to be used in liturgy, recitals, concerts and teaching. Our HLF guest, Evelyn Stacey, was impressed with what we have achieved.

Richard Barnes, David Briggs & Tim Trenchard

Please now support:-

Sunday 22nd June, Music Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Little Organ Mass. Motet: Insanae et Vanae Curae. (Unhealthy and vain cares invade our minds; What profit, O Mortal, in worldly things, if you neglect the heavens? But all things are favourable to you, if God is for you.) Both by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Sunday 22nd June, 6pm Evensong & Dedication of the new Organ. With Bishop Richard Hawkins – special order of service, preceded by a 20 minute mini Organ recital. Much of the choir’s music will feature bold organ accompaniments in Balfour-Gardner’s Evening Hymn and a Stanfordfest of Psalm 150 and the Canticles in C. We are grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits and our many generous donors.

Wednesday 25th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Paul Morgan (Exeter Cathedral Organist Emeritus) on the Life and Achievements of Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Hear about the eccentric SSWesley, who was Organist of Exeter Cathedral in the 1830s and, as well as composing well-known hymns and anthems, set about improving the musical life of the CofE. He is buried just below the Catacombs in the cemetery across the valley from St Michael’s.

John Dinham, died June 27th 1864

Friday 27th June, 7.30pm Requiem Mass. In memory of the 150th Anniversary of the death of John Dinham, Exeter Tea Merchant, Philanthropist and Founder of the Mount Dinham development. Weather permitting, after the service, Richard Parker & I hope to lead a procession to the tomb of John Dinham, and his wife Susannah, in the cemetery above Exe Street.

Tomb of Susannah and John Dinham

Please remember also to support a new generation of organists at our Young Organists’ Competition on Monday14th July at 7.30pm. We have 9 applicants who will each play a short selection of pieces to our panel of three judges; Devon organists Jonathan Watts, Andrew Daldorph and Neil Page. Prizes include the opportunity to perform in Exeter Cathedral, in our St Michael’s Recital series, and lessons with Cathedral organists Andrew Millington and David Davies. We thank Exeter School, Exeter Festival Chorus and Budleigh Music Festival for sponsorship.

Organ Console

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Fledging & Festival Updates

Robert — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 07:01:11 +0000

By midday on Sunday 8th June both the female Peregrine chicks (HeBe & HeiDi) had fledged and flown too. With no need for monitoring from us on the ground this year, it’s been hard to keep track of their first movements, but it seems all 3 are already able to fly to high points around the spire to roost and be fed.

Many took the opportunity to observe the Peregrines before attending Nick Dixon’s talk. A cameraman from the BBC’s One Show has been on hand too, so we hope there will be a feature on St Michael’s Peregrines in due course.

However, on Thursday 12th, the young male was found down, with some damage to his primary feathers; he has been taken to an RSPCA unit for treatment and rehabilitation, and we are still hopeful for a good recovery.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

The Music & Heritage Festival is in full swing with choral concerts on Wed 11th and Fri 13th; please pull out all the stops to come and hear David Briggs, exciting player and entertaining speaker, performing on our new pipe Organ on Monday 16th June – all these at 7.30pm.

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

If you need to park at the church, please get a pink parking permit when you arrive. Otherwise, the closest Exeter City car parks are Harlequins – free after 6pm, open till 11pm; Mary Arches Street – £2 after 6pm, staffed until 12pm; but NOT Guildhall, which closes at 9pm.

Meanwhile on Sunday 15th June, again at 7.30pm, we can learn more about the fascinating history of the part of Exeter we now call Mount Dinham, from Roman Camp and virtuous Victorians to melodious musicians and eloquent educators, from archaeologist and historian, Richard Parker.

Church and Episcopal School

It’s also great that the number of applicants for our Young Organists’ Competition, organised by Alex West, had swelled from a couple to 9, by the time entries closed last weekend. We look forward to an entertaining evening with our competitors and judges on Monday 14th July.

Organ Rebuilt

Finally, a reminder of Trinity Sunday 15th June, 10.45am Mass. Setting: now Mass in F by Charles Wood. Motet: Duo Seraphim by Guerrero. (Two Seraphim, from Isaiah 6, with 3 intertwining 4-part choirs representing the Holy Trinity)

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Fledging News 1

Robert — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 01:21:45 +0000

Peregrine parent – Sat 7 June 2014

With much less fuss than last year so far, the news from Saturday 7th June is that HeCtor, the young male, has fledged and flown, and returned to the church tower. The young females have been flapping their wings on the edge of the trefoil opening, but not yet left the nest box.

HeCtor fledged – Sat 7 Jun 2014

Nick Dixon and local residents saw the young male down on an area of church roof this morning being fed by an adult. Later photographers here saw him back up on the decorated ledge at the base of the spire and then taking a brief flight mid-afternoon with one of the adults.

and testing his wings – Sat 7 Jun 2014

So we’re all set for an enthralling talk by Nick Dixon on the history and habits of our Peregrine family at St Michael’s, plus video clips from this season’s nest box camera bringing us right up-to-date.

Sunday 8th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Nick Dixon (Raptor expert) on 20 years with Exeter’s Peregrine Falcons.

The Mount Dinham Festival continues this coming week with 2 Concerts by local choirs and the interesting and surprising history of Mount Dinham itself from our resident historian. We also hope to see you on the 16th to be entertained by one of the world’s foremost organists playing our new pipe organ.

Wednesday 11th June, 7.30pm Charity Concert. Exeter Rotary presents Torbay Police Male Voice Choir in a programme of Gilbert & Sullivan and popular songs. (Admission £6.50 on the door.)

Friday 13th June, 7.30pm St Michael’s Recital. Exeter Chorale, conducted by Dr Nigel Browne and accompanied by Dr Paul Evans & Alex West (piano duet), return with a summer programme of Madrigals, Partsongs & Glees. (Admission £7.50/£4 on the door, children free.)

Sunday 15th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Richard W Parker (our own Architectural Historian) on the long History of Mount Dinham and St Michael’s.

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

Monday 16th June, 7.30pm Inaugural Organ Recital. David Briggs (International Organ Virtuoso) will perform a varied programme on our newly installed, restored pipe organ. Don’t miss this exciting Concert; see organrecitals.com for details. (Admission £10/£8 on the door.) David’s Finale will be an improvised Symphony, from themes suggested by the audience!

Organ Console

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Heritage & Music Month – June 2014

Robert — Sun, 25 May 2014 14:47:13 +0000

Hopefully you’ve seen the Posters in the recent News Update blog. This is the same information in Diary form combined with the Music List for June. We have now had a myriad (10,000) views of the blog, from 65 different countries – thank you.

Meanwhile, keep watching our Peregrine chicks, live on the internet at our website thanks to generous sponsorship of the streaming costs by Devon Birds ( www.devonbirds.org ). The 4-week old juveniles are quite mobile around the nest box, starting to feed for themselves on what the adults bring in, and looking rather untidy as they grow their proper feathers; they are due to fledge in the second week of June.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

So, this is when we bring most of the Project together with a wonderful variety of entertainment, education and worship. Please come and enjoy this exciting month with us at St Michael’s. We will also shortly be launching a new, enhanced website at www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk . Don’t miss David Briggs on Monday 16th June; he is one of the world’s most exciting concert organists.

Thursday 29th May, Ascension Day N.B. 7.30am Matins. Plainsong sung from the West Gallery; followed by Breakfast.

Thursday 29th May, Ascension Day 7.30pm Mass. Setting: Mass in C & F. Motet: Coelos Ascendit Hodie, both by C V Stanford.

Sunday 1st June, Easter VII 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa Dixit Maria, Hassler. Motet: God is gone up with a merry noise, Hutchings (1906–1989)[Ascendit Deus, Philips]

Sunday 1st June, 6pm Evensong and Benediction. Responses: Sumsion. Psalm 47. Canticles: Stanford in G. Anthem: To My Request and Earnest Cry, by S S Wesley. (A substantial Bach-like piece, written in Exeter in 1836, setting the last 8 verses of Psalm 119 from Tate & Brady’s metrical “New Version”.) O Salutaris Hostia & Tantum Ergo: Plainsong.

Wednesday 4th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Dr David Oates on the Colourful Arms of Devon’s colourful Gentry.

Sunday 8th June, Pentecost, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa Brevis Laetatus Sum by Browne. Motet: Exultate Deo by Palestrina.

Sunday 8th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Nick Dixon (Raptor expert) on 20 years with Exeter’s Peregrine Falcons at St Michael’s, including new video footage from the nest box camera. Indeed, the young Peregrines should be on the threshold of fledging.

Juveniles at 3 weeks

Wednesday 11th June, 7.30pm Charity Concert. Exeter Rotary presents Torbay Police Male Voice Choir in a programme of Gilbert & Sullivan and popular songs. (Admission £6.50 on the door.)

Friday 13th June, 7.30pm St Michael’s Recital. Exeter Chorale, conducted by Dr Nigel Browne and accompanied by Dr Paul Evans & Alex West (piano duet), return with a summer programme of Madrigals, Partsongs & Glees. (Admission £7.50/£4 on the door, children free.)

Sunday 15th June, Trinity Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Spatzenmesse (Sparrow Mass) by Mozart. Motet: Duo Seraphim by Guerrero. (Two Seraphim, from Isaiah 6, with 3 intertwining 4-part choirs representing the Holy Trinity)

Sunday 15th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Richard W Parker (our own Architectural Historian) on the long History of Mount Dinham and St Michael’s.

Monday 16th June, 7.30pm Inaugural Organ Recital. David Briggs (International Organ Virtuoso, Artist-in-Residence at Toronto Cathedral, and Organist Emeritus of Gloucester Cathedral) will perform a varied programme on our newly installed, restored pipe organ. David will include 3 pieces played by his grandfather when the organ was re-dedicated after a re-build in 1952 at St Jude’s Church, Birmingham. Don’t miss this exciting Concert; see organrecitals.com for details. (Admission £10/£8 on the door.) David’s Finale will be an improvised Symphony, from themes suggested by the audience!

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

Thursday 19th June, Corpus Christi, 7.30pm Mass with Procession around Mount Dinham. Setting: Mass in F by Rheinberger. Motet: Panis Angelicus, Cavalli/Leppard

We hope also to include prayers used by Bishop Ernest Barnes from the 1952 Organ Re-dedication Service at St Jude’s, Birmingham. We are grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits and our many generous donors.

Wednesday 25th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Paul Morgan (Exeter Cathedral Organist Emeritus) on the Life and Achievements of Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

Friday 27th June, 7.30pm Requiem Mass. In memory of the 150th Anniversary of the death of John Dinham, Exeter Tea Merchant, Philanthropist and Founder of the Mount Dinham development.

Sunday 29th June, SS Peter & Paul, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw. Motet: Tu Es Petrus, Palestrina.

As usual at St Michael’s, virtually every event will have Refreshments afterwards, with voluntary donations. Unless otherwise stated, entrance is free with a voluntary collection as you leave. This celebratory month of diverse events is the climax of our 18-month Heritage Lottery Funded project (with other donors) to make Heritage, Music, Education, and indeed Religion, lively on Mount Dinham, now and for the future, in the spirit of our Victorian forbears, John Dinham, Rev Theophilus Toye and William Gibbs.

Northernhay Gardens – John Dinham statue (1866)

I’m not sure what John Dinham would make of a Requiem in his memory; he seems to have been of a more puritan, evangelical persuasion than those who built this church to his memory. What all had in common, though, was a fervent Christian faith demonstrated in the worship of God and the welfare of their fellow citizens.

Richard Barnes.

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News Update

Robert — Wed, 21 May 2014 07:53:08 +0000

A quick update on exciting current and forthcoming events.

Church and Episcopal School

Tonight! Wednesday 21st May, 7.30pm. St Michael’s Recital. Alex West (Organ). See Organ Recitals for details.

Application date for Young Organists’ Competition extended to Sat 7th June. See details here

Peregrine chicks weighed, measured and ringed, all three are healthy, developing well and getting around the nest box. See website and click Peregrine link. And yes, I’ve unofficially named them after their leg-rings HeCtor, HeBe & HeiDi!

Poster now available for Celebrity Recital by David Briggs, International Organ Virtuoso, to launch the our new Organ, on Monday 16th June at 7.30pm.

Opening organ concert on reconstructed organ formally in St Jude’s Church, Birmingham, where David’s grandfather was Organist, inspiring him as a child to learn to play and to improvise.

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

Click image to enlarge.

It is a real coup for St Michael’s to have David Briggs come and formally open our newly installed pipe organ next month. It will be a thrilling opportunity to hear one of the world’s foremost organists perform pieces from J S Bach to Dukas’ the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (from Disney’s Fantasia), and to improvise a Symphony from themes suggested by the audience!

And a beautiful poster for the whole of our busy Festival Season.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

Click image to enlarge.

We hope to see those who live near enough at St Michael’s as we celebrate.

Best regards, Richard.

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Week Three Rings

Robert — Thu, 15 May 2014 00:44:27 +0000

Yes, it’s week 3 for our Peregrine chicks, rapidly becoming juveniles, growing well thanks to good parental hunting, with Mum making sure all get their fair share of pigeon etc.

Female peregrine feeding 3 young chicks

They have started to move around the nest box, if rather ungainly, flex their young wings, spend a lot of time unattended and at least some time not all huddled together. Also preening and projectile excretion have been observed.

The adults have started using the top of the spire as a lookout and are patrolling their airspace, so buzzards and other aerial passers-by watch out.

This Saturday, as licensed ringers, Jason and Nick plan to measure, weigh and leg-ring our 3 young, 3 week old eyases. This should also confirm the expectation of 2 female and 1 male again this year. (The 4th, unhatched egg is still there, but now ignored by the adults.)

Accessing the Nest Box at St Michael’s

Advanced notice of Nick Dixon’s talk here in St Michael’s Mount Dinham on Sunday 8th June at 7.30pm, illustrated by recorded (and live) footage from 6 weeks in the nest box. That is unless any juveniles have just decided to fledge the nest, in which case we may all adjourn outside for a view of their first tentative flights.

Enjoy the next 3 weeks of growth and development at close quarters on the Devon Birds’ sponsored live stream available on St Michael’s website.

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Jeffrey John, “Real Bible Study”

Robert — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:44:35 +0000

Celebrating over 21 years of the St Michael’s Lectures. Please feel welcome to join us, whatever your beliefs, for a fun and informative evening with food, drink, and free and open discussion.

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Bethany Sollereder, “Evolution, Suffering and the Creative Love of God”

Robert — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:25:01 +0000

The lecture will be at the church at 7.30 pm, Wednesday 12th March.

Bethany Sollereder was born in Edmonton, Canada. She earned a BA in Intercultural Studies there, then went on to a master’s degree in Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. Now she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Exeter in Science and Theology, in the Department of Theology and Religion.

In 1859 Charles Darwin uncovered in The Origin of Species a world that evolves on the basis of natural selection. It is competitive, violent, and careless of the amount of suffering it produces. Yet, Christian theologians identify God as the creator of the evolutionary process. This raises serious theological questions including ‘Why would a good God ordain a process that necessarily involves pain, suffering, and death for so many creatures?’ In this talk, Bethany Sollereder will explore the theological and pastoral implications of evolution, and ground a theology of evolutionary creation in the love of God.

The lectures are OPEN TO ALL and admission is FREE (there is a voluntary retiring collection). They are followed by discussion and light refreshments. The lectures are held in St. Michael’s Church (Mount Dinham, Dinham Road, Exeter, EX4 4EB) which has a tall spire and is located by the Iron Bridge on North St./St. David’s Hill. For further information, or to discuss disabled access, please do not hesitate to contact David Beadle at dnb201@ex.ac.uk

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