CIEL-UK Annual High Mass and One-day Conference. London, England

I have received the following which I am happy to pass on to readers:

CIEL-UK (Centre for International Study of the Liturgy) is holding the Annual and One-day Conference this year on Saturday, 29 May. As was the case last year, the venue for Mass is the London Oratory, 232 Brompton Road, Kensington, London, SW7 2RP. We are most grateful to Fr. Ignatius, the London Oratory Provost, in allowing use of the superb Oratory Church again this year. The celebrant will be the Very Rev. Richard Duffield, Cong. Orat., M.A. (Oxon) and John Henry Newman Distinguished Fellow, the Provost of the Birmingham Oratory.
The Mass will be a High Mass starting at 11 am. Of course, the rite will be that of the “Old Mass”, according to the Missale Romanum of 1962. In a departure from previous Annual Masses (which it is hoped will prove to be popular) Mass will be sung in plainchant, facilitating the participation of the congregation in song. It is also hoped to include a motet composed by James MacMillan. Once again the choir will be directed by Patrick Russill, Director of Music at the London Oratory. Patrick will be known to many Friends, but those who do not know about him will be interested to learn more.
We are most fortunate that the Head of Choral Conducting, Royal Academy of Music and Chief Examiner, Royal College of Organists, who was invited in 1987 by the Royal Academy of Music to found Britain’s first conservatoire church music department, supports our Annual Mass. The conservatoire was further developed in 1997 to provide the first UK specialist postgraduate choral direction course in the United Kingdom. This course now attracts students from around the world. Patrick is in demand as a visiting teacher at major European conservatoires and has been Visiting Professor of Choral Direction at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater since 2000. He made his Royal Festival Hall organ recital debut in 1986 and has since played in Europe, Asia and throughout the UK.
His scholarly writing includes important articles on early Tudor liturgical organ music, Howells’s Latin church music and Dupré’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin of 1920. He was Musical Editor of the acclaimed Catholic Hymn Book (1998) and contributed the chapter on Catholic Germany to The Cambridge Companion to the Organ (1999). In 1993 Patrick was made an Honorary Patron of the Herbert Howells Society in recognition of his research and rediscovery of the early Latin music of Herbert Howells written for Westminster Cathedral. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Fellow of both the Guild of Church Musicians and the Royal College of Organists – the highest accolade of each institution.
Patrick believes this Mass will be an exceptional musical and liturgical event. The Conference will take place in the afternoon in St Wilfrid's Hall at the Oratory at 2.30 pm. Entry will be £5.
Our principal speaker at the Conference is Dr James MacMillan CBE, who will present a lecture on Liturgical Music pre- and post-Vatican II. This renowned Catholic Scottish musician, a classical composer and conductor, was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire on 16 July 1959. He studied musical composition at the University of Edinburgh as well as Durham University and gained his PhD in 1987. After lecturing in music at Manchester University he returned to Scotland, composing prolifically to become Associate Composer with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
His first work to attract attention was The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the Proms in 1990 which gained great acclaim and brought more high-profile commissions, including a percussion concerto for fellow Scot Evelyn Glennie entitled “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel” in 1992, which has become his most performed work. He was also asked by Mstislav Rostropovich to compose a cello concerto, which was premiered by Rostropovich himself in 1997.
Not confining himself to classical music, he has worked occasionally with the folk band The Whistlebinkies, for whom he set and performed the William Soutar poem, "Tryst".
His Catholic faith has inspired many of his sacred works; for example, Magnificat (1999) and several Masses, which inspired a was uniquely marked by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in early 2005, with music entitled “From Darkness into Light”.
Scottish traditional music has also had a profound musical influence and is frequently discernible in his works. When the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999 after 292 years, a fanfare composed by MacMillan accompanied the Queen into the chamber.
Amongst his many accomplishments and interests are his patronage of St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh and the London Oratory School Schola Cantorum. He was awarded the CBE in 2004. Married to his childhood sweetheart Lynne Frew, they have two daughters and a son.
As well as celebrating holy Mass, Father Duffield is now Actor (postulator) of the Cause of John Henry Cardinal Newman and he is our second speaker. Most will know the beatification of Cardinal Newman is expected during the Holy Father’s visit to the UK next September. Fr Duffield will make a short address on the status of Cardinal Newman’s cause. Fr Duffield took up his new post as Provost of the Birmingham Oratory in early February.
The afternoon will conclude with Solemn Benediction in the Little Oratory, followed by a reception in the Little Oratory. Nicole Hall’s “Granny” books will be offered for sale by Peter Hall at this time. Nicole was the foundress of CIEL-UK.

Flyer for 2010 Annual Pontifical High Mass Conference_2