St. Stephen’s Choir travels across the pond to sing in London

Simon Ballintoy, the director of music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge, led a 10-day trip to London for the St. Stephen’s Choir and other members of the church and Oak Ridge community in July . The 31-member choir sang at three world-famous sites: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

A number of church members and friends also joined the trip as choral supporters, bringing the group total to more than 50.

The Rev. Seth O'Kegley-Gibson, former pastor and music director at First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge who now lives in Colorado, accompanied them on the trip and sang with the choir. Another far-flung participant was Emma Whitten, former Oak Ridge resident and organist, who came from Southern California to accompany the choir, and to join her sister and choir member Cathy Whitten, also a professional musician.

Emma Whitten enjoyed the opportunity to play the organs at both St. Paul’s and St. George’s Chapel.

"It's very humbling to play the same instruments as generations of great English organists, and each organ is unique,” she said. “The historic Willis organ of St. Paul's Cathedral has divisions of pipes spread throughout the building, including in the dome, with a reverberation time of approximately 11 seconds!"

The Rev. Bailey Norman, priest-in-charge at St. Stephen’s, made the trip with his wife Sara, who sings in the choir, and their son James Henry, 7.

"Our whole church community is proud of the choir,” said Norman. “For them to be able to sing in these places that seem mythical to us Americans was incredible. Hearing our people sing those beautiful hymns and anthems in these special places was extraordinary.”

In addition to singing, the group from Oak Ridge was able to sightsee in both London and other areas of England.

Ballintoy grew up in Belfast, Ireland, and came to United States in 2010 to attend graduate school at the University of Tennessee, where he earned masters’ degrees in choral conducting and organ performance. As someone who grew up singing and playing Anglican church music, Ballintoy was uniquely qualified to plan and lead a trip like this.

The lengthy application process for a visiting choir to sing at places like Westminster Abbey includes submission of recent performances, date flexibility (the cathedrals can be completely booked years in advance), and repertoires of music appropriate to an Anglican service. For example, the St. Stephen’s Choir learned to chant psalms in a style that combines the rhythms of normal speech with four-part harmonies.

“The psalms in England are sung to Anglican chant on a daily basis, even in small parish churches, something which we don’t find in America except in major cathedrals. A lot of the nuance of psalm singing can’t be taught from a book, but learned through practice,” noted Ballintoy.

Services have been conducted at Westminster Abbey since the 13th century. The Abbey houses not only the tombs and memorials of kings and queens, including Queen Elizabeth I, but also those of hundreds of famous British people, from Winston Churchill to William Shakespeare to Charles Dickens.

King Charles III’s coronation was held there in May.

Like Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, whose huge dome has marked the London skyline from the 17th century, has been the site of weddings, celebrations, and funerals for many famous people, and, like the Abbey, holds daily Anglican services open to the public.

St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, located about 20 miles from London, was where most recently Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and burial was held, and where many other members of the British royalty are buried, including King Henry VIII.

At each site, the choir processed into the area of the church reserved for singers, called the quire, comprised of elaborately-carved seats and surrounded by intricate stone, wood, and tile ornamentation.

Everyone on the trip had their favorite venue, but for choir member Betsy Ellis, it was St. George’s Chapel, where the choir performed two services on July 16.

“It’s just incredible that a choir from Oak Ridge can sing in all of those cathedrals - especially St. George’s - not everyone gets to go in there. It is such a beautiful place,” Ellis commented.

Ballintoy agreed: “It was nice to get out of the city of London. (The people at St. George’s) were very welcoming. Our first service was special because it was attended by those that lived and worked in the castle. It was quiet, peaceful, and the hustle and bustle of London seemed so far away. The second service had a different vibe, a packed church full of tourists eager to get a spot.”

Ballintoy has been organizing singing trips to the United Kingdom since his UT days, when he helped establish their cathedral choral residency program, which enables UT choir members to travel to sing at historic cathedrals every three years. He took the St. Stephen’s Choir to Ireland in 2019. Scotland has already been mentioned by some hopeful choir members as a possible future destination.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: St. Stephen's Choir travels to London to sing at historical venues