Apologies if this has already been covered before. Until Covid-19 hit I had a personal project of wishing to attend as many live broadcasts of Choral Evensong as I could. When a live broadcast was advertised (usually the week before) the announcer would invite listeners to attend saying that they had to take their seats about half an hour before the broadcast began. Two questions: 1) have live broadcasts of Choral Evensong now resumed and 2) are listeners still being invited to attend?
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Hello Mike!Originally posted by choralmike View Post
That's quite a project, but I remember it.
The answers are both Yes, but to the first question with the recognition that there are not so many as there used to be. Whether or not that will change is anyone's guess.
And of course members of the public can attend: it's a service open to all.
I was at the one in York Minster earlier this year:
Good luck! -
Sadly, that is so.but [.........] that there are not so many as there used to be
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It is a shame if not so many are going to be broadcast live. Sadly, I noticed that there was a decline in these even before the pandemic.Comment
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The decline seems to have happened since 2016. Up to then there were 40+ live broadcasts each year. In 2017 these were down to 36 and in 2018 down to 30.Comment
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I understand there's a live broadcast, not CE, somewhere in London today. Will you be there, choralmike? I am glad, by the way, that the Purcell and Croft Funeral Sentences are still de rigueur. (Wm Croft's music was my postgrad subject.) In general. I'd like there to be more of the Croft-Greene-Boyce generation of composers represented in cathedral music lists.Comment
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That was the moment the squeeze on the Beeb's budgets really started to restrict the number of live broadcasts from the traditional costlier venues where evensong is sung during the term, day in, day out, and also an increase in the number of broadcasts using cheaper choirs such as schools, university chapels, and education projects which, in many cases, don't sing the daily office and, dare I say it, whilst often singing beautifully, don't have the service in their blood.Originally posted by subcontrabass View PostComment
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Couldn't agree more: there are plenty of excellent verse anthems from which to choose.Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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Interesting - it had never occurred to me that the choirs and chapels etc featured are paid. How very naive of me.Originally posted by Peanut View PostComment
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This should perhaps be on a new thread but it isn't completely unrelated to some of the above comments
Apologies if it's already been brought to forumites' attention.Comment
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Musicians' Union fees for six or more layclerks, live links from the location back to BBC base etc never come for free.Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View PostComment
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That’s surprisingly little money really . Sat links are way cheaper than they were and they probably use IP these days . The big cost is the OB truck , the production staff and the engineers and their overnights. Those costs are the same whether it’s Kings College Chapel or me and a few mates singing down the pub - though the latter would probably be a fairly simple mic rig. Cutting the number of relays really saves money though.Originally posted by Peanut View Post
PS I hope they pay the organist…Comment
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Recent practice halves the number of live broadcasts of Choral Evensong by recording one service the day before for later transmission and sending out a live broadcast on the following day, a Wednesday. When visiting the far south-western approaches, the production and engineering staff stay overnight (the BBC-listed hotel is a very comfortable one!), affording many of us the opportunity to make an enjoyable social occasion of it in the nearest pub and Nepalese restaurant.Comment
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Right-on! (as they say in these parts, though possibly not in the Alverton).Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
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