This past year, the St. John Vianney music staff implemented a new children’s choir program after becoming affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music. Eleven of our budding choristers participated in the RSCM Gulf Coast Winter Festival this past February, and this past week Maddy Coronado returned for the Summer Course. The youngest daughter of Dan and Jo Coronado, Maddy has excelled in our choir program. She was the youngest participant accepted for the all-girls course, which was capped off at fifty and resulted in a waiting list. The girls rehearsed an enormous amount of difficult music every day for upwards of four hours, and the fruits of their labor resulted in three choral services hosted by various churches in Houston. Kirk Rich, Associate Director of Music and Coordinator of Children’s Choirs at St. John Vianney, volunteered throughout the week, taking sectional rehearsals with the girls and learning new techniques from the brilliant guest clinician, Richard Webster, Director of Music at Trinity Church, Copley Square, in Boston. We are very proud of Maddy and look forward to sending more choristers to these events in the coming year.
The Royal School of Church Music was founded in England in 1927 by Sydney Nicholson, Organist of Westminster Abbey. In its 80-year history, the RSCM has grown into an international network for church music with over 7,500 members in over 40 countries committed to supporting and encouraging choirs and those who train them. Along with St. John Vianney, two other Catholic churches in Houston have implemented the RSCM curriculum: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham. For more information on the RSCM children’s choir program at St. John Vianney, contact Kirk Rich, or visit our webpage.