Description
Sarah MacDonald is arguably one of the UK's most dynamic enablers of young singers and organists. She is also established as one of the foremost exponents of contemporary sacred choral music, particularly new works by living female composers. We are delighted to release this first recording devoted to her own compositions, sung by her own Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and recorded in the radiant acoustic of Ely Cathedral, where she is Director of the Girl Choristers. MacDonald's works are firmly routed in the rich Anglican choral tradition demonstrating expert and highly-effective writing for voices and skilled use of texture, rhythm, and colour. The album features a wide selection of recent shorter works for both a capella choir and for choir with organ accompaniment, including a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, a carol sequence, a Missa Brevis, and anthems and motets for several religious occasions. Sarah MacDonald was born in Canada and now lives in the UK, where she holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of Ely Cathedral's Girl Choristers. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and was the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. She was appointed University Organist at Cambridge in 2023, and is the first woman to hold that prestigious ceremonial role, which dates back to 1670. Sarah came to the UK from Canada in 1992 as Organ Scholar of Robinson College, Cambridge after studying piano, organ, and conducting at The Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School in Toronto with Leon Fleisher, Marek Jablonski, and John Tuttle. At Cambridge she read for a degree in Music, and studied the organ with David Sanger. Sarah has played numerous recitals and conducted choirs throughout the UK, North America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and much of mainland Europe. She has made over 35 recordings, variously in the guises of pianist, organist, conductor, and producer. Sarah is a Fellow and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, and an examiner and teacher for the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Music. She is a director for Rodolfus Foundation choral courses, and her liturgical music (over 60 published titles) is performed regularly around the world. She is series editor of the 'The Sarah MacDonald Choral Series' with Selah Publishing in Pittsburgh. Sarah also writes a popular monthly column for the American Guild of Organists' magazine The American Organist, called 'UK Report'. A compiled volume of 12 years worth of her essays was published in 2022. She is a Patron of the Society of Women Organists, an Honorary Patron of the Herbert Howells Society, and from 2024-26, served as President of The Royal College of Organists. In her spare time Sarah is a keen amateur photographer.
