In the new year, I’ll be retiring from my job as Director of Music in Holy Trinity Brussels. Here below you’ll find some of the annual programme we used to follow.
A FESTIVAL OF CAROLS WITH ORCHESTRA
In December, Holy Trinity holds its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols with Orchestra. We gather some great soloists, 50+ singers, a 35-piece orchestra, we pull out our timpani and orchestral glockenspiel, and we play and sing some of the best and greatest carols ever written, some in English, some in French, some in Dutch and German. We sing this service three times: twice in Holy Trinity—afternoon and evening—on the third Sunday of Advent. Then we take it all down the road to Belgium’s beautiful great Cathedral of Saints Michel et Gudule, an event packed with tourists and local Bruxellois, and we sing it all again there.
Here below are a couple of pics of the orchestra and the younger singers. They’re not singing here. They’ve just finished and are heading for the waffles. You can read a bit more about our Festival of Carols here.
You can listen to extracts from our Christmas carols here. You’ll get more on my Youtube channel.
HANDEL’S MESSIAH
On the Saturday nearest Candlemas (2 February), we sing Handel’s great masterpiece. Singers come from all over the city, and we are supported by a fine amateur orchestra. The concert starts at 16:00 and, with a generous intermission for meeting, greeting, and eating, finishes about 19:00. Following Handel’s own practice, part of the proceeds of the performance go to a local charity for sick children, Les projets d’Eléo. Admission: €10 (concessions, €5).
For more details on this year’s performance, see Candlemas Messiah. Want to know a bit more about the story of this great Baroque masterwork? Then read Handel’s Messiah.
GOOD FRIDAY BACH PASSION
Every Good Friday, we sing one of the Bach Passions. On even-numbered years we sing the St John Passion (Johannes-Passion) and on odd-numbered years the great Saint Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion). At this event, we are accompanied by an orchestra of Baroque specialist musicians, mostly graduates of the Brussels Conservatoire Royal. They play at A 415 on their oboes da caccia and d’amore, on cembalos and violas da gamba. (The Brussels Conservatoire is a world centre for the study of historically-informed performance, particularly for Baroque music. They work together with the equally world-class Belgian Musical Instrument Museum.) Sadly, in 2020, 2021, and 2022, our Passions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to get it up and running again in 2023. Entry to this beautiful Good Friday vespers service is free, just as in Bach’s time. Come and listen.
VIENNESE MASS
On the last Sunday of June, we sing a Viennese Mass. This year (2022), we sang the Pastoralemesse (KV 140). Our soprano solo was smitten by laryngitis, but it gave one of our other sopranos a chance to shine. We’ve sung all the missae breves of Mozart and a few by Haydn. The forces are modest, just as planned by the composers; that is, the Vienna church trio (two violins and a cello) and organ, with the occasional addition of trumpets, timpani, and bass. But with a big choir, the sound is superb. The idea behind this service (as with the Bach Passions) is to take great sacred music out of the concert hall and back into the church, where it belongs. Then, after our Viennese Mass, we take a well-earned summer break. Anyhow, Brussels comes to a sleepy standstill in July and August.
Then in October, we usually do a special seasonal service connected with either Edith Cavell or William Tyndale, our local martyrs. (Cavell was executed in Schaerbeek, Brussels, and Tyndale in Vilvoorde, just outside the city.) This year, 2022, we sang the Edith Cavell Mass again.
WEEKLY MUSIC MINISTRY
Week by week, we do four services every Sunday. We have two choirs. There’s a traditional Anglican choir which sings at morning services during term time. They sing Evensong once or twice a month. And we host or participate in RSCM Choral Festivals from time to time.
And we have a gospel ensemble, the Living Waters Singers, who sing Afro-Pentecostal style music in the afternoon service. You can find out more about them on the Living Waters Singers page.
We have a worship band which plays in the evening service. We even have a string quartet who play for us from time to time. You can find out more about them and what they are doing on the Living Waters Singers page.
So that’s an overview of the music ministry in Holy Trinity. If you live near Brussels, and you’re a keen singer and read music well, then get in touch with me if you’d like to sing.
You can find our song-sets for here for our 10:30 services and 14:00 services. You can hear some of our recordings on the Videos Page.