Canterbury Mass

Canterbury Mass emerged through sustained creative dialogue with the Canterbury Cathedral choir and its Director of Music. The work was premiered during Easter services in April 2026, marking the historic appointment of Archbishop Sarah Mullally with music designed to fit seamlessly into the structure and function of the liturgy, connecting to the Anglican tradition whilst (in certain aspects of form and idiom) subverting expectations.
Scored for choir and organ, the work balances the choral heritage of Tallis and Byrd, Elgar, Howells, Britten, Poulenc etc. with more diverse influences from Miles Davis, Radiohead, Jean Cocteau’s Chapel Saint-Pierre in Villefranche, Miquel Barcelò’s installation in Palma Cathedral, and Marc Chagall’s stained glass windows at Tudely. Particular attention is given to textual clarity, and spatial resonance, responding to the acoustic and ceremonial environment of Canterbury Cathedral. The work also utilises the expressive range of the new cathedral organ in short but ambitious organ interludes.
In responding to compositional limitations imposed by the demands of liturgical utility, the decision to reach beyond standard repertoire enabled a less fettered approach to the medium. Technical aspects of writing for chorus and organ had to be imagined afresh: the piece utilises a certain complexity of harmonic texture combined with polyrhythmic writing, and these had to be conceived in such a way that there was textural clarity in the ancient resonant acoustic for which it was composed. Formally, material tends to bleed over from one section to the next so that the traditional partitions of the mass are eroded. The iterative development process—shaped by consultation, rehearsal, revision and live performance provided a critical testing ground for the work’s efficacy.