On 2 September, the St Paul Choral Society will be heading off on its fourth choral tour abroad, supported by Arts Council Malta - Cultural Export Fund.
The SPCS is one of Malta's leading polyphonic choirs consisting of some 60 members who under the Founder and Music Director, Hugo Agius Muscat, regularly sing at St John's Co-Cathedral and St Paul's Anglican Pro-Cathedral and to date have performed in more than 230 singing events in the Maltese Islands and abroad. Having sung in London in 2011, Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck in 2013 and Paris in 2015, the SPCS will this year be making another very special tour.
This year, the choir will be flying to Madrid and it will then travel to Burgos from where it will follow the route of the Camino Frances, the best known of the various routes, all of which have as their destination the city of Santiago in Galicia in the North West of Spain. The Camino is a pilgrimage to this city where the remains of St James (Santiago) the apostle are reputedly buried. The legend started in the 9th century with the vision of a shepherd named Pelayo who was drawn to a field in Libredon (present day Santiago) by bright lights or stars shining over it which indicated the presence of the apostle's burial place. From this, the name Compostela may have derived (field - campus; stars - stellae). The site became a place of pilgrimage and this grew until it came to rival the two other great pilgrimages - to Rome and Jerusalem. Pilgrims came from all over continental Europe and the British isles in large numbers. Although the numbers waned over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the middle of the last century saw a resurgence of interest in it. In fact, the Camino has been growing in popularity and the number of pilgrims has soared to over 100,000 each year and almost double that in a Holy Year when the feast of St James falls on a Sunday.
The Camino Frances starts in the South West of France in the small village of San Jean Pied de Port in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The route then crosses the mountains to Roncesvalles in Spain and then on through Pamplona and Logroño to Burgos. From Burgos to Leon it passes through the meseta, a high plateau which stretches for some 200km. It then crosses the Montes de Leon passing the famous Cruz de Ferro at the summit and descends to the town of Ponferrada. The Bierzo valley follows and once again there is a stiff climb up the Cordillera Cantabrica with the unforgettable village of O'Cebriero at its summit and the entry point into Galicia. From there, it is a relatively easy final home run over the last 150 km to Santiago. The whole route from St Jean to Santiago is just over 800km long.
On 4 September the choir will be giving a concert in the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Burgos and will then travel to Leon where a second concert will be given on the 5th September in the equally impressive cathedral with its beautiful stained glass windows. The following day it will arrive in Santiago. Two events are scheduled for this wonderful city: the first will be a concert at the monastery of San Martin Pinario on the 7th September while the highlight of the tour will be on the following day when the choir will be singing at the Misa del Peregrino (Pilgim's Mass) at Santiago cathedral itself.
The choir will be presenting different programmes at the various venues and the music will include works by, amongst others: Viadana, Palestrina, Marcello, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Gounod, Britten, Rachmaninoff and Duruflé. Also scheduled will be a selection of choral works by Maltese composers namely Agius Muscat, Azopardi, Pace, Scerri and Vella. Elisabeth Conrad and Hugo Agius Muscat will also play organ solos, including works by Luigi Grech, de Cabezón, Ximénez, Oxinagas, Clérambault and Peeters. The concert at San Martin Pinario will have a very strong Marian flavour as the concert will be held on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This project is supported by Arts Council Malta - Cultural Export Fund
If you happen to be in Spain, the concerts will be held as follows:: Burgos Cathedral 4 September at 8PM; Leon Cathedral 5 September at 9PM, San Martin Pinario in Santiago 7 September at 9PM and Santiago Cathedral 8 September at 7.30PM.