Tea, Tunes, and Royal Chat with Barry Rose, OBE

NEWPORT, RI – The Choir School of Newport County is delighted to announce the return to Newport of Dr. Barry Rose OBE, former Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, for an afternoon of "Tea, Tunes, and Royal Chat" as an endowment fundraiser for the Choir School. The event will be held February 4, 2024, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 324 East Main Road, Portsmouth RI. English Tea will be served. There is no charge for this event. Seating is limited, however, and reservations are required. Reserve your place(s) by emailing [email protected] between January 10 & January 30. One of the UK’s most distinguished and experienced choral directors, Barry Rose came to music by a very non-traditional route. Born in London, he left school at sixteen to take up a career in insurance, but at the age of twenty-four, decided to give it up to “have a go at music.” Gaining a place at London’s Royal Academy of Music, he then proceeded to fail every examination, but whilst still a student, was appointed as the first Organist and Master of the Choristers of the new Guildford Cathedral, out of over 140 applicants. At Guildford he created a men and boys choir from scratch, and within five years they were recording bestselling albums for EMI, as well as regularly broadcasting and touring. It was through the high reputation of the Guildford choir that Dr. Rose was offered the post of Religious Music Adviser to the BBC (a post he was to hold for twenty years), and also the post of Master of the Choir at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, where he and his family moved in 1974. While at St. Paul’s he directed the music on several great State and Royal Occasions, including Her Majesty the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Service, and also the Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981. He introduced the choristers to a new and exciting world of pop recordings, and they recorded with such artists as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John, as well as making their own hit record of My Way, which gained a Gold Disc within six weeks of being issued. Dr. Rose’s last full-time post was as Master of the Music at St. Albans Abbey, where he and his family spent ten happy years before “retiring” to rural Somerset. Dr. Rose has been a regular visitor to the USA since 1972, advising and directing many choirs, both at parish level, as well as with the prestigious program at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. In January 2024 he will be working with the boys and girls of Grace Church in New York, leading a festival of three Connecticut choirs who have combined annually for over twenty years under his guidance, and spending a day in Newport rehearsing with us ahead of his talk. Dr. Rose trained and directed the Choir School on tour in England in 2018 and returned to Newport in February 2023 to lead a memorable service of Choral Evensong at St. George’s School Chapel which may be viewed on the website: choirschoolri.org. His memoir Sitting on a Pin, published in 2021, tells some of the “war stories” which come most vividly to life in his own presence. (It’s available on Amazon and you can bring yours to be signed!) He describes the talk he will present at this Tea as an “informative entertainment.” If you really want to know what goes on behind the apparently well-ordered Services and Royal Occasions at the great English Cathedrals, please come along, and bring your friends, on Sunday the 4th of February. It’s an experience not to be missed. The Choir School students will be on hand to sing some of Dr. Rose’s favorite works including a composition he premiered at the Queen’s Jubilee, as well as to make the case for his message of support for our School’s ongoing mission. The Choir School’s Board of Directors will present the prospectus of an endowment plan to assure the continuation of the school’s mission into its second decade. There is no charge for this event. Seating is limited, however, and reservations are required. Reserve your place(s) by emailing [email protected] between January 10 and January 30. the Choir School has earned a place as the Newport County area’s premier children’s choir, having trained and performed in England for two weeks in 2018, traveled to New York City and Washington, DC, performed at local and regional festivals in its home state including the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Newport Folk Festivals, initiated Messiah at the Mansion presented the past three years at Rosecliff by Newport Classical, and issued its first commercial recording. Its mission is: “Forming lives of character and service through the joy and discipline of intergenerational choral music.” The nonsectarian afterschool program serves a diverse student body from all over Aquidneck Island. Choristers receive a modest stipend based on their attendance, training and achievement according to the Voice for Life curriculum of the Royal School of Church Music. For more information, visit www.choirschoolri.org

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