Music at St Paul's

The Chaplain’s View

The sole purpose of music in Church is the worship of God and therefore it is a form of prayer. At St Paul’s our Director of Music composes specific arrangements and settings to help us to express this during our services.

Excellence matters and so while we enjoy the wonderful contribution of the Ristretto singers, everyone is invited to engage with music during the service, offering their best to God.

What does that mean? In this context it means you don’t have to be a great singer to be part of a musical triumph that takes us to a higher plane and elevates us all toward the divine.

The Musical Director’s View

I was honoured to asked to take up the position of St Paul’s Director of Music in 2020 as I believe music in church worship is an offering to God, deserving the best resources that are available. Music is also an act of sharing – which includes listening together as well as singing together.

In Monaco we are lucky to have access to a wide range of talented professional performers through the ballet, opera and symphony orchestra, so our offering can range from hymns and simple congregational Mass settings to sacred works by composers from the Renaissance to the present day.

Click here for Errol's professional biography.

The Ristretto Singers

Formed by Errol Girdlestone in 2012 this group of professional and gifted amateur singers from across the region joins us regularly to lead music during worship.

The vocal ensemble is joined by instrumentalists on special occasions in the church’s calendar as well for performances of Masses by Haydn, Schubert and the renowned annual concert presentation of Handel’s Messiah.

Look out for a programme of music that profiles the church’s musical literature including Baroque composers and the resumption of the series of Bach’s cantatas and motets inaugurated prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Music for December

Sunday 1st 10.30am Advent Sunday Holy Communion

Setting

Merbecke

Hymns

46, 36, 45, 823

Antiphons

O Radix Jesse / O Oriens (plainchant)

Sunday 8th 10.30am Holy Communion

Setting

Merbecke

Hymns

810, 38, 57, 41

Antiphons

O Adonai / O Emmanuel (plainchant)

Sunday 15th 10.30am Holy Communion

Said Holy Communion

Sunday 15th 7pm Nine Lessons and Carols

Processional Carol

Once in Royal David’s City

Carols

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O Little Town of Bethlehem

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

O Come All Ye Faithful

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Choir

A Boy Was Born (Benjamin Britten)

Sans Day Carol (Traditional Cornish, arr. Rutter)

The Holly and the Ivy (Traditional arr. Jacques)

The Sussex Carol (arr. David Willcocks)

Minuit Chrétiens, O Holy Night (Adolph Adam arr. Errol Girdlestone)

In Dulci Jubilo (arr Pearsall)

Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar (Peter Cornelius)

Sunday 22nd 10.30am Holy Communion

Setting

Darke in F

Hymns

30, 586, 52, 54

Antiphons

O Christ, King of all nations (Walker) / O key of David (Girdlestone)

Christmas Eve 7.30pm Holy Communion

Guest organist, Harry Bearn

Christmas Day 10.30am Holy Communion

Guest organist, Harry Bearn

Sunday 29th 10.30am Holy Communion

Setting

Stanford

Hymns

88, 85, 64, 78

Antiphons

Come Holy Ghost (Attwood)

Stay up to date with our news and events by signing up below.

22 Avenue Grande Bretagne, Monaco

+377 93 30 71 06 – chaplain@stpaulsmonaco.com

Show on Google Maps

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Errol Girdlestone BIOGRAPHY

Church music has been important to Errol all his life – you might even say it was in his genes! Errol’s family has strong theological, academic, musical and even medical connections that coalesce through music, so he was a boy chorister and trained initially as an organist.

Church music has provided the foundation for Errol’s rich and varied international career that has spanned many countries and an exciting range of genres, all featuring performances at the highest professional level. Here is a brief summary of the highlights:

Religious music – Royal College of Church Music, London Trinity College, Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Founder member of The Hilliard Ensemble.

Opera – English National Opera (Wagner’s Ring Cycle and EMI recordings with the legendary Reginald Goodall), conductor at the Nice Opera, Syrinx Concerts Orchestra in Vence and Monaco, Musique Cordiales in the Var, Festival Georges Auric in Montpellier. Plus, permanent posts in South Africa and Norway.

Freelance conductor and chorus master – Aix-en-Provence, Baden Baden, Cologne, Chicago, Montevideo, and the Wexford festival in Ireland.

Symphony and oratorio conductor – Leipzig, Vienna, the Bregenz Festival, Canterbury Festival, and at the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, alongside artists such as Giuliano Carmignola and Alison Balsom.

Commercial recordings – English National Opera, Pink Floyd.

Compositions – Concerto for two flutes and orchestra Pièce de Concert was premiered at the Louvre in Paris, while his Rivers of Time (scored for solo cello, symphony orchestra, and large chorus) was given at the Cathedral on the Rock in Monaco.

Join our mailing list and stay up to date

Please enter your email below