Sometime in the first half of 2008 the Roman Catholic community at St Dunstan's will be moving to a new church in the Shaftesbury Road area. To mark the closure of the old St Dunstan's Church, we have commissioned a new piece from William Hayward, in thanksgiving for over 80 years of worship in that building.
The words for the new piece have been written by a member of the Chorus, Claire Dane, who is also a parishioner at St Dunstan's. The text takes the form of a meditation on the nature of Church, interspersed with reflections on the various saints associated with St Dunstan's Church.
This new piece, Ecclesia Aeterna (Eternal Church), has now been completed. William has found Claire's libretto to be most inspiring; he says that when setting words to music, you really have to examine them very closely. He has found these words very easy to work with and has been truly impressed at their beauty.
William composed most of Ecclesia Aeterna on paper, while on a tour of Japan with the singer Russell Watson, for whom he is musical director. As soon as he returned home, William completed the piece at his computer and has even made a demo recording of it, in instrumental form. The piece lasts approximately 19 minutes.
We are confident that the members of St. Dunstan's Chorus will greatly enjoy learning and performing this exciting new work.
By contrast, the other work in the 2008 season will be The Crucifixion by John Stainer. This is a Passiontide oratorio and a much-loved part of the choral repertoire.
The concert will take place on Saturday 15th March 2008 at 8pm. Rehearsals begin on Wednesday 9th January 2008, from 7.45pm to 9.45pm.
Progress Report of the 2008 Season
Report on the concert on March 15th 2008
Return to archive page
