In Quires and Places where they meme

24 Nov 2025

A lovely review in the December issue of Organists' Review of my book, Evensong - Notes from the Choir, available now from Amazon, other good booksellers, and of course quiresandplaces.com/products/eve...

27m

Remembrancetide draws near and, with it, Requiem Season.

16h

Very excited about the forthcoming Bond 007 casting announcement. Good luck to all the frontrunners.

16h

Would have included more but frankly not enough composers have been photographed in dinner jackets and/or moody lighting.

We've all done it.

If you're in London this weekend, head to St Paul's Cathedral for the Eucharist and hear a fine motet by Jonathan Millican sung by Adamas Voces. Copies are available for purchase exclusively at Quires and Places. quiresandplaces.com/products/mil...

If we can have storms with names of literary greats, can we have some named after musical greats? "Storm Herbert is causing widespread chaos. There are reports of people reeling to and fro. And what's that, Tom? They're also staggering like what? I can't make you out over the storm."

*SOUND ON* Nine days until the release of ***CURSED CAROLS*** 99 unpopular pairings of popular words and tunes, together for the first and hopefully last time. Except, some of them ... aren't that cursed... quiresandplaces.com/collections/...

every year

Babe, wake up, a new unit of measurement just dropped.

On this lovely autumnal day, we have a question. Are you going to Hark the Herald? A printed volume of 99 Cursed Carols, coming this Hallowe'en. (Some of them are quite nice, actually.) Pre-order your book now: quiresandplaces.com/products/cur... (Audio: the choir of St Mary Redcliffe.)

When the clergy and servers crack out the holy week robes

On 1 December 2021, we shared a post simply saying "here, have a cursed carol", pairing Hark! the Herald with Aberystwyth. It was never intended that, five years later, it would feature in an entire volume of #CursedCarols. And yet, here we are. 1/2

quiresandplaces.comCursed CarolsNiche choral merch.

Coming this Hallowe'en: CURSED CAROLS - 99 pairings of words and music that were never meant to be. Our thanks to the choir of St Mary Redcliffe for being such sports and recording this in a session last week. quiresandplaces.com/collections/... 2/2

THE GREAT DEFROSTING BEGINS To celebrate, we've released an all-new zip-up hoodie version of our classic Word Christmas jumper. Check out our full Christmas range here: quiresandplaces.com/collections/...

"You were flat in that entry." "It sounded like it, but actually it was a rogue AI agent." "And on page 3 you failed to come in." "Yeah, again. Rogue AI agent." "And yesterday you missed the reh..." "Rogue AI agent."

the amazon shopping preferences section is really freaky

IT'S COMING... 👀 Make sure you're subscribing to our (very occasional) mailing list for advance sales and discount offers of any upcoming releases, whatever they might be... Visit quiresandplaces.com and scroll to the bottom for our subscribe page.

bbc.co.ukSunday Worship - Open thou our lips - A Celebration of Choral Evensong - BBC SoundsA celebration of Choral Evensong.

This morning's Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4 is well worth catching up with on BBC Sounds. An absolute privilege to be asked to chat all things Evensong alongside such luminaries as Roderick Williams, Sarah MacDonald, Harry Christophers, and Katherine Dienes-Williams. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Ugh, don't you hate spem mail?

head chorister medals have many unexpected benefits

BING BONG The train due to leave Platform 1 is the Rail Replacement Service, departing from the road round the corner that's awkward to get to and really not very obvious. www.amazon.co.uk/Collect-Rail...

For those seeking strength, you can now intone the Collect for the Rail Replacement Service as you make your way to the bus stop. www.amazon.co.uk/Collect-Rail...

Now on sale on quiresandplaces.com and, for international customers, available at amazon.com, amazon.com.au, etc. (As well as amazon.co.uk, of course.) www.amazon.co.uk/Collect-Rail...

Maybe one day we'll release a book of Psalmemes, with a meme for every verse of the psalm. That's a bit much, even for us, but in any case, here's Psalm 40, verse 10.

Weird name for a church, but ok. Do you reckon they do Evensong? "And O, what transport of delight..."

Pre-order copies of The Collect for the Rail Replacement Service have arrived. Just over a dozen copies left for pre-orders: they'll be posted out on Thursday. quiresandplaces.com/products/the...

That being said you can't have too many, tbh.

We've all been there.

quiresandplaces.comThe Collect for the Rail Replacement ServiceFrom the author of Evensong - Notes from the Choir comes a collection of prayers for occasions which nobody thought would need prayer but definitely, 100% do. And if you can chant them with a fancy Am...

We're sorry to make this particular observation but...it's officially three months until Christmas. As such, may we present the perfect stocking filler gift... THE COLLECT FOR THE RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE Now available to pre-order before it's release on Thursday 1 October.

If you subscribe to our *very* sporadic emails and THEN pre-order, you can get 10% off this AND all other books we publish (whether physical or electronic), available exclusively to subscribers before the end of the month. (Subscription button is at the bottom of the main page.)

This morning I was in the BBC studios in Bristol to record an interview for BBC Radio 4's Sunday Worship on Sunday 4 October (8.10am).

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bbc.co.ukBBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Towards Evensong, 06/10/2026Celebrating a hundred years of the BBC’s broadcasting of Evensong.

Not content with appearing on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 4 October (8.10am) we're also catching the night owls over on Radio 3 on Tuesday 6 October at 9.45pm, as part of a series each evening next week on Evensong. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

(Based on this numerical trend, we can only assume we'll be getting a call from BBC Radio 2 any day now...)

This is an excellent initiative, highlighting important work, but when I saw a photo of a cathedral and the word "organ", I did not immediately think of the sort of organ the post intended me to bring to mind.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral@stedscath.bsky.social

Tomorrow, Friday 25 September, the Cathedral Tower will light up pink for #OrganDonationWeek, which runs from the 21 to 27 September. Two minutes now, can save up to nine lives - confirm your decision to be an Organ Donor on the NHS organ Donor Register. It’s the best thing you’ll do today.

Imagine you start a new choir and they open the robe cupboard and start putting on their jassocks.

***NEW PUBLICATION*** If you've had a browse round the new website as well as spotting some new music you may have seen this little number coming soon... Introducing The Collect for the Rail Replacement Service.

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It's an extension of the appendix at the back of Evensong - Notes from the Choir and is very much intended as a light-hearted, if still a little prayerful, look at modern life through the lens of the daily Collects intoned each day at Evensong.

It's a little book destined for that shelf of little books that everyone has. Usually in the bathroom. You don't have to chant the Collects, but it might help. Published on 1 October.

From rail replacement services to self-service checkouts, and from parish magazines to password expiry notices, this collection offers prayers for the many minor trials, mysteries, frustrations and absurdities of modern life.

It's no secret that I've got a soft spot for Kelly in C. So much so that I've dedicated numerous memes to Bryan's masterpiece. The campaign to get as many choirs to sing it this term starts now. Can we all agree on a date and synchronise the music lists? Requiescat in Pace, Bryan Kelly. 1934-2026

Welcome to the Quires and Places family, Barnabas Sharp. Barnabas is a graduate musician with a Masters degree in Composition; they have composed classical and film music in multiple varieties of style, tone and colour ranging from the traditional neo-romantic to the dissonantly experimental.

A regular performer as well, Barnabas is a tenor/baritone singer who is part of many choirs across Oxford, some of whom have premiered their choral compositions. Outside of their musical activities, they are a regular cinema-goer, a teacher, and an unapologetic fan of Doctor Who.

quiresandplaces.comEvening Service in A flat (Barnabas Sharp)EVENING SERVICE IN A FLAT by Barnabas Sharp The accompaniment can be played by either a piano or organ, necessary adjustments at the discretion of the performer can be made for either (e.g. use of ped...

You can find out more about Barnabas at bsharpproductions.co.uk, on Facebook @BSharp97, or on Instagram @bsharpcomposer. We're delighted to publish their Evening Service in A Flat, which you can find here: quiresandplaces.com/products/eve...

It's new brand day! We've been working behind the scenes on a new brand identity. Same great products; new brand. We've refreshed our website too. Take a look at our new look, as well as a few new products now, and to come.. quiresandplaces.com

This morning I was in the BBC studios in Bristol to record an interview for BBC Radio 4's Sunday Worship on Sunday 4 October (8.10am).

The service is part of a number of broadcasts across Radios 3 and 4 marking the Centenary of the first broadcast of Choral Evensong, on 7 October 1926, and includes a number of luminaries from the choral world. And me.

(There's a special broadcast of Evensong the following Wednesday on the centenary itself, live from Wabbey, but I'm not involved in that.) Look out on our socials later this evening for more updates...