When I arrived at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento in 1984, one of the things I heard from many other musicians in the Diocese, was that they had never been invited to the Cathedral. There was generally a strong feeling of disconnect from the Cathedral around the Diocese as it was, so I wanted to figure a way to fix that.
So the Annual Diocesan Choir Festival was born. My aim was twofold: to give musicians from around the Diocese a chance to visit and sing at the Cathedral; and to give them the opportunity to sing the beautiful office of Choral Evensong, which was literally not being sung anywhere in the Diocese (as far as I could tell). The format was simple: we would have a distinguished guest conductor, with an all day rehearsal culminating with Choral Evensong.
The first year, I enlisted my friend Dr John Fenstermaker, who was Canon for Music at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as our guest conductor. About sixty singers from the around the Diocese joined us for the day, and it was a great success. Everyone in attendance was enthusiastic that this should become an annual event.
Since that first festival, we have welcomed hundreds of singers from around the Diocese, and and some years the choir numbered near a hundred, very cozily packed into the quire at Trinity Cathedral. Our wonderful guest conductors over the years:
- 1988 Peter Hallock – St Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, Washington
- 1989 Martin How – The Royal School of Church Music, United Kingdom
- 1990 David Flood – Canterbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 1991 John Fenstermaker – Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California
- 1992 Nigel Groome – Beckenham Parish Church, United Kingdom
- 1993 Peter Hallock – St Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, Washington
- 1994 Michael Fleming – St Alban’s Holborn & the RSCM, London, England
- 1995 David Flood – Canterbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 1996 Nigel Groome – Beckenham Parish Church, United Kingdom
- 1997 Jonathan Rees Williams – St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, United Kingdom
- 1998 Douglas Major – National Cathedral, Washington D.C.
- 1999 Nigel Groome – Beckenham Parish Church, United Kingdom
- 2000 Robert Simpson – Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas
- 2001 David Flood – Canterbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2002 David Dunnett – Norwich Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2003 Katherine Dienes Williams – Guildford Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2004 Tim Byram Wigfield – St George’s Chapel, Windsor, United Kingdom
- 2005 David Flood – Canterbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2006 Simon Lole – Formerly Salisbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2007 David Link – Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, California
- 2008 Katherine Dienes Williams – Guildford Cathedral
- 2009 David Dunnett – Norwich Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2010 David Link (substitute at last minute for Simon Lole)
- 2011 Maxine Thevenot – Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2012 Robert Simpson – Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas
- 2013 No festival was held
- 2014 Canon David Link
- 2015 Dr Jeffrey Benson – California State University, San Jose, California
- 2016 Canon David Link
- 2017 James Walker – All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, California
- 2018 Canon David Link
- 2019 David Flood – Canterbury Cathedral, United Kingdom
- 2020 Tim Brown – Retired Clare College, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- 2021 No festival was held (COVID!)
- 2022 Maxine Thevenot – Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2023 Dr Bruce Neswick – Retired Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, Oregon
- 2024 Nigel Groome – St Matthews, Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Over these last thirty-six years it has been a personal joy for me to welcome so many fine musicians to Trinity Cathedral, both conductors and singers. Our next festival will be held on Saturday, January 25 2025, and it will be my last festival as I look forward to retirement late next year. I will take it as an opportunity to conduct this last festival myself, and I hope that many festival and choir alumni will participate. Watch this space for further information as the day develops.