Day Workshop: Spem in Alium

£20 per singer
Online bookings for Spem in Alium have now closed, but you can join us to sing on the day (payment in cash only), or feel free to hear the performances from 3:30pm in the Cathedral.

29th April 2023

9:30am – 4:00pm

Gloucester Cathedral

Join us in Gloucester Cathedral for a rare opportunity to sing Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, led by our Musical Director, Adrian Partington. Written for 8 choirs, this 40-part composition involves hundreds of singers, and you can be one of them. Originally scheduled for April 2020, in the year of 450th anniversary of the composition of Spem in Alium, we are delighted to have been able to reschedule the event as the finale of our 2022-23 season. Singers will rehearse in groups during the morning session, before joining together in the Cathedral for a tutti rehearsal and an informal performance to the public. Guests are of course most welcome to come and listen. GCS held a similar Spem in Alium workshop back in 2014, attracting over 360 singers from across the country, and we are keen to repeat this success in 2022. The cost for the workshop is just £20 per singer. It is free for guests to come and listen to our informal performance, as well as any cathedral choir performances on the day, such as Choral Evensong, which we hope will be Tallis-themed. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity of a wonderful day of singing.

Schedule for the day

  • 9:30am Registration & distribution of music at back of the cathedral nave
  • 10:00am Warm-up in nave
  • 10:20:am Disperse in groups to practice sessions
  • 10:30am – 12:30pm Group practice sessions (with a break at 11:15am)
  • 12:30 – 1:45pm Lunch (not provided)
  • 1:45 – 3:15pm Tutti rehearsal in nave
  • 3:15 – 3:30pm Break
  • 3:30 – 4:00pm Concert Performance (up to 3 times)