Westminster choir visits St. John’s Abbey

A large crowd gathered in the Abbey church on Saturday to listen to the Westminster Cathedral Choir sing with the St. John’s Boys’ Choir.

Hosted by the monks of St. John’s Abbey, this world-acclaimed choral group visited campus as a part of their international tour, spanning multiple stops in the United States, Hungary, Norway, Germany, Belgium and Italy.

Due to an unforeseen cancellation in their tour, the Westminster Cathedral Choir reached out to St. John’s Monastery, where they had performed many years ago.

Brother Paul Richards said planning this event involved a significant number of steps, such as managing ticket sales, housing the chorists in the Abbey Guesthouse and organizing access to both the Abbey and Great Hall.

“My role was pulling all these pieces together because we haven’t done a major art event like this in the Monastery for a long while,” Richards said.

Founded in 1901, the Westminster Cathedral Choir is the only choir in the world that sings daily Mass and Vespers. Simon Johnson, director of the Westminster Cathedral Choir since 2021, has maintained this tradition. The Westminster Cathedral Choir and the St. John’s Boys’ Choir performed a version of the Mass Parts during their concert, specifically “Cantus Missæ” by famous composer Josef Rheinberger.

The concert began at 4 p.m. with the singing of a church hymn where audience members were encouraged to participate, followed by several foreign pieces and the aforementioned “Cantus Missæ.” Among the audience members present was SJU sophomore Leo Krueger, who said he enjoyed seeing a high-performing men’s choir in concert.

“It was refreshing to witness a male choir of mixed ages, adults and kids alike, singing in a professional setting. I think it provided more diversity of sound and voice parts,” Krueger said.

The event lasted approximately 90 minutes in total, including a brief intermission. The SJU Senate allocated funds for 300 Johnnies to attend the event, and current SJU Senate president Ben Bugbee had nothing but complimentary words for the performance.

“It is a true triumph of the monastic community to put on this spectacular performance and to welcome such a revered group to our hallowed facilities…the Senate will always be willing and ready to uplift art on this campus,” Bugbee said. “Creativity and curiosity is our foundation, and we are thrilled to see it flourishing today.”

The St. John’s Prep School also played a significant role in the fruition of the performance. 19 young students from the prep school joined the Westminster Cathedral Choir in singing a host of musical pieces – many in different languages.

These choristers from the prep school sang with the ten visiting singers, consisting of altos, tenors and basses, under the direction of Johnson.

The Westminster Cathedral Choir will continue their tour in the United States before heading to Palestrina, Italy, later this year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of its namesake’s birth, composer Giovanni Palestrina.