Cathedral Choir: Classical and Romantic Music

Come and hear our cathedral's internationally-renowned choir singing famous music by Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn and others in the beautiful St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral.  Conducted by Duncan Ferguson and accompanied by Imogen Morgan.

Programme

Missa brevis in C Major (Coronation Mass) ... W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (Little Organ Mass) ... J. Haydn (1732-1809)

Insanae et vanae curae ... J. Haydn (1732-1809)

Locus iste ... A. Bruckner (1824-1896)

Geistliches Lied ... J. Brahms (1833-1897)

The Choir of St Mary’s was founded in 1879 to provide choral music for the daily services at Edinburgh’s new St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, with its own choir school. This tradition, of singing regular weekday and Sunday services in the Cathedral, continues to this day, the only place in Scotland to do so. In addition to singing services at St Mary’s, the choir is well known for its recording work, concerts, and broadcasts.  Recent recordings have included single-composer discs from Tudor England (Taverner, Sheppard and Mundy respectively), Bruckner (a Gramophone Recommended Recording), contemporary composer Gabriel Jackson, Stravinsky, and Kenneth Leighton (5* from BBC Music Magazine).  Three of the discs were Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine.  The choir recently released their recording of Stainer's The Crucifixion with Delphian (4*, The Times: "all the participants ... radiate sincerity"; Gramophone: "the hushed intensity of 'God so loved the world' ... I have never heard more beautifully rendered.")

There are annual broadcasts of Choral Evensong on BBC Radio Three during the Edinburgh Festival.  Other recent events have included music for the Steve Coogan film The Lost King, a collaboration with the Traverse Theatre and recording for BBC Scotland’s Christmas Watchnight service 2022.  The choir has toured widely, including to Germany in Easter 2024, singing at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Over the last decade or so the choir has worked with many orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Dunedin Consort, Opera North, Scottish Opera, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Duncan Ferguson is Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary's Cathedral, with overall responsibility for rehearsing, training and recruiting the Cathedral Choir. He directs the choir for its schedule of services, recordings, broadcasts, and concerts. A former organ scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford and St Paul's Cathedral, London, Duncan was also President of the Edinburgh Society of Organists in its centenary year. He teaches organ at St Mary's Music School. His recordings with St Mary's, which include seven single-composer discs, have gained critical acclaim. He has also recorded the St Mary's organ as part of the Edinburgh Organs CD project and in a solo disc of music by William Faulkes. He enjoys performing a wide range of choral and organ music, be it at Evensong, in concerts or recitals, and has a special interest in music from mid-16th century England.

Imogen Morgan is the Assistant Master of the Music at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, a position she has held since August 2021. In this role, she accompanies the choir for its services, broadcasts, concerts, and recordings, regularly conducts the choir and helps train the choristers.

Imogen is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, which she was awarded with the Harding and Durrant Prizes for the highest marks in the written examinations, and was a finalist in the 2020 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition. Between 2017-2020, Imogen was the Senior Organ Scholar of Durham Cathedral and University College, with whom she recorded Duruflé’s Requiem for their album ‘In Memoriam’, released with Priory Records in July 2020. Prior to her appointment at St Mary’s, Imogen spent a year as the Organ Scholar of Peterborough Cathedral.