Concert venue: the choir of Croydon Minster will be performing the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new work at Southwark Cathedral on February 7
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN looks to the futurethis week and a world premiere performance by the church’s choir to take place at Southwark Cathedral
Master of the King’s Music: Errollyn Wallen
Croydon Minster’s choir, which already has a substantial list of musical achievements, will add to their already impressive CV next month when they sing the world premiere of a piece of music composed by Errollyn Wallen.
Wallen is the Master of the King’s Music.
The musical equivalent of being Poet Laureate, Wallen was appointed to the role by King Charles III in August 2024.
The role of Master of the King’s Music is an honorary one. It was created during the reign of Charles I: the first Master of the King’s Music in 1624 being Nicholas Lanier.
It is given to “a musician of distinction who has added to the musical life of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth”, and past recipients have included Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Walford Davies and Sir Arthur Bliss.
Wallen is the second woman to be afforded the honour, and she succeeded the first, Judith Weir. Wallen is the first black composer to be honoured in this way.
By royal appointment: Errollyn Wallen receiving her CBE from King Charles
Born in Belize, in central America, in 1958, Wallen moved to north London when aged two. Although she had piano lessons as a child, she trained to be a dancer in the Dance Theatre of Harlem, in New York, before she returned to London in 1981 and studied music at Goldsmith’s and composition at King’s College, London. She later received an MPhil from King’s College Cambridge.
She was the first black woman to have a piece of music performed at the BBC Proms and was the first woman to receive an Ivor Novello Award for classical music.
Her “Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra” was her debut piece for the Proms in 1998 and the BBC commissioned her to write an orchestral composition for the 2025 First Night of the Proms, called The Elements.
Wallen also composed music for the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games in 2012 as well as pieces for the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees.
Hugely in demand as composer, one of Wallen’s new organ pieces is to feature in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall this Tuesday, January 27, while The Elements is due for its German premiere in Berlin in April.
“It does chime with things I have thinking about all my life,” Wallen said of her role as Master of the King’s Music in a BBC interview.
“I want everyone to not to just have access to listen to music but to make music. I’ll be advocating for the birthright for every child to read and write music, to make music, to perform music.”
Commissioner: Bishop of Croydon Dr Rosemarie Mallett has worked closely with Wallen on the new music
Wallen’s career has not been without controversy. In 2020, as part of a slimmed-down post-pandemic Proms programme at the Royal Albert Hall, she reworked Parry’s Jerusalem, a Last Night favourite, to include a line about the Commonwealth nations and dedicated it to the Windrush generation. She received hundreds of abusive messages, which totally shocked her.
“Make the best music you can, stay close to the music and try not to get too jaded when things aren’t going your way,” was her official response.
Even before she received her royal appointment, Wallen had been approached to compose the music which Croydon Minster choir is to sing at Southwark Cathedral. Commissioned by the Diocese of Southwark and with Dr Rosemarie Mallett, the Bishop of Croydon, liaising closely, Wallen was asked to write a mass for a church service which could be sung in unison by a congregation but which could also be sung in harmony by the church choir.
Missa Brevis is the name of the “short mass”.
It will be sung for the first time at Southwark Cathedral from 5.30pm on Saturday February 7.
The service is to be sung at the end of a day of reflection at Southwark Cathedral, “Truth Telling in Sacred Spaces”, where the Diocese will reflect its role in church heritage and historical injustice.
Croydon Minster’s musical director, Justin Miller, is thrilled that the choir is singing the first published mass by a black British composer and someone with such a presence in modern British classical music.
It will be a day for the choristers to remember for a long time, making the music which Wallen has created especially to be sung by them.
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- The curious case of the Croydon curate and his woman stalker
- This teacher’s Foss way always led her back to South East Asia
- ‘Cockney Wagner’ who wrote symphonies, waltzes and operas
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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