Ealing Abbey Lay Plainchant Choir

EALING ABBEY
LAY PLAINCHANT CHOIR

ABOUT US

Ealing Abbey Lay Plainchant Choir (EALPC)

Founded originally by the eminent soprano Jennifer Smith, the Choir is now an apostolate of the Monastic Community of Ealing Abbey and part of the Benedictine Institute. Singing liturgical chant has always been an important part of the Community's spiritual life. The Lay Plainchant Choir gives lay people the opportunity to practise and sing chant so that they too can contribute to the liturgical life of the Parish and benefit from the rich spirituality of Gregorian chant.

Icon Christ Pantocrator, painted by Choir founder, Jennifer Smith

We sing once a month at the 6:00 pm Saturday Vigil Mass at Ealing

Abbey (Ordinary Form). Members available to sing on a weekday also sing once a month at a local care home for elderly people suffering from dementia.

We meet weekly for rehearsals on Wednesdays - 7:00 for 7:15 pm in the Maurice Fowler Hall, Montpelier Avenue, London W5. We ask members to attend promptly and regularly, and to notify the Membership Secretary, if they cannot attend.

We ask members to make a contribution of £4 a week to choir funds (or £12 per month by standing order). This enables us to pay for books and some of the cost of training events, and ancillary expenses.

Training

We periodically organise training events for members of the Choir.Events
have included:

Weekend workshops, most recently led by Philip Duffy, formerly Master of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

Occasional tuition at evening meetings by the late eminent composer and choirmaster Colin Mawby (Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral 1961-76).

Annual weekend visits to Quarr Abbey and St Cecilia's Abbey on the Isle of Wight, for tuition and practice in singing chant.

Training by Christopher Eastwood, Director of Music, Ealing Abbey Choir