Music specially chosen by Archbishop Cherry for her enthronement
Music will pay a key role in the up-coming enthronement of the Archbishop of Wales, The Most Reverend Cherry Vann and, being a trained musician herself, she has thoughtfully chosen some very meaningful and beautiful pieces for the special service.
Archbishop Cherry met with Canon John Connell, the Canon for Worship at Newport Cathedral at the beginning of September to discuss what note the Archbishop wanted to strike in this service to inaugurate her new ministry. Since that first meeting, the Archbishop decided to begin the service with an Act of Penitence and that the enthronement should follow on from the Liturgy of the Word, with the readings laying the foundation for what follows. Ideas for hymns and anthems were thought through and then chosen carefully.
Commissioned by HM King Charles III for His 2023 Coronation at Westminster Abbey, Coronation Kyrie by composer Professor Paul Mealor will be sung near the beginning of the service. The words in Welsh are the Kyries – Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. So, the service begins with a note of reflection on how the Church is called to acknowledge and repent its failings and shortcomings in living out the gospel. As it is sung, the new Archbishop will kneel before the Archbishop’s throne and invite all who are gathered to join with her in lamenting our failings as individuals and as a Church, seeking God’s forgiveness, grace and healing.
The work, set in the Welsh language, was premiered by Sir Bryn Terfel and has the honour of being the first Welsh ever uttered at a Coronation.
At the Enthronement the soloist will be Owain Rowlands, a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama who was a finalist in the Sir Bryn Terfel Scholarship competition and has sung with him.
Prof Mealor says: “I am deeply honoured that The Archbishop has chosen my humble little piece to be performed at her installation. It means a great deal to me, and I am looking forward to hearing it performed in Wales!
“The piece is meditative, introspective and based on a blend between Gregorian chant and ‘Cerdd Dant’ (Welsh Penillion singing – an important part of eisteddfodau). I was inspired by the great Welsh tunes– Aberystwyth, Cwm Rhondda, Ar Lan Y Môr – and the composition is coloured by the harmonies of these songs. It is a cry from the deep soul of the hills and valleys of Wales for hope, peace, love and friendship.”
After the Enthronement the Newport Cathedral Choir will sing The Call of Wisdom, a setting of words from Proverbs chapter 8 by Will Todd and written for Her Late Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It is not a triumphal piece, as one might expect something written for such a celebration to be, but rather one which encourages the hearer to reflect on how worldly treasures are of little worth compared to the gift of wisdom and the assurance of God’s constant loving presence in our lives.
The hymns come from the best of English and Welsh hymnody, with Bishop Timothy Rees’s hymn about the Saints of Wales being sung in alternate verses of English and Welsh and it has been ever so slightly adapted by Canon John to bring in the Cathedral’s patron saint, Gwynllyw – see if you can spot or hear the specially adapted line!
ENDS.
Professor Paul Mealor biography:
Paul Mealor (b. 1975) is one of the world’s most ‘performed’ living composers and has composed music for some of the most important UK state, national and Royal occasions of the last ten years, including the wedding of The Prince and Princess of Wales (2011), King Charles’s 65th, 70th and 75th birthdays, two works for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s national Services of Thanksgiving (2022), two works for the Coronation (2023) – including the first ever setting of the Welsh Language at a Coronation, and three works for The Honours of Scotland Service (2023).
He has also written music for film and television including the score to the BAFTA-Award winning ‘Wonders of the Celtic Deep’, three operas, four symphonies, concerti, chamber music, much choral music and songs, including the 2011 Christmas No 1, ‘Wherever You Are’ for Gareth Malone and the Military Wives Choir.
He has received many awards and honours for his work including honorary degrees, fellowships and in January 2024 was appointed to The Royal Victorian Order (LVO) by HM King Charles III for his outstanding contribution to Royal Music. He is the first composer to receive this accolade since Sir Arthur Bliss in 1969 and before him, Sir Arnold Bax and Sir Edward Elgar.