Ordination of priest at St Christopher's Cathedral Canberra

Some good news indeed!  Congratulations to the ordained.  Also nice to see the Archbishop of Hobart (formerly auxiliary bishop of Sydney), the Most Reverend Julian Porteous, who was the ordaining bishop.

Laus Tibi, Christe

Tu es Sacérdos in aeternum

secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

Thou art a Priest for ever 

after the order of Melchisedech.

Date of enthronement announced for Archbishop-designate Anthony Fisher

Anthony Colin Joseph Fisher OP, Archbishop-designate of Sydney, will be enthroned in St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday 12 November 2014 (see here and here), at a time to be announced (it will presumably take place post meridiem). The date chosen for the enthronement is the feast of St. Josaphat, a 17th century Lithuanian archbishop and martyr.

Christopher Hogwood - Requiescat in pace

So soon after the death of Frans Brüggen, the world has lost another of the great period instrument musicians, scholars and conductors, with the news today that Christoper Hogwood CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), founder and long standing director of the Academy of Ancient Music, has died aged 73 (see also here, here, here and here). Listen to a recent BBC interview with the Maestro. Most classical music CD collections will have a generous amount of Hogwood's recordings, many of them on the Decca L'Oiseau Lyre series. He regularly collaborated with the great cathedral and college choirs of England.  Here the AAM and the Westminster Cathedral Choir (under David Hill) perform Mozart's Regina Coeli KV 127.

His recording of the Mozart Requiem (also with Westminster Cathedral Choir) remains one of the finest.

Hogwood recorded the first full period instrument performance of Handel's Messiah (and also remains one of the finest), with the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (in about 1978, with, I seem to recall, Simon Preston as the Choirmaster).  A few years later, an almost identical performance was broadcast on the BBC, though the choir had changed (Westminster Abbey Choir, filmed inside the Abbey - and I believe Simon Preston was now Master of the Choristers at the Abbey).  Also look out for a young Harry Christophers singing tenor.

Returning to Mozart, Hogwood recorded the complete Symphonies with the AAM. Here he gives a spirited performance of the final movement of the forty-first and final ("Jupiter") symphony in Japan. The final few bars are positively explosive!  And how nice to hear a "Bravo" from the Japanese audience (across the world this has largely been replaced by a generic form of hollering).

And here Hogwood conducts a memorable performance of Haydn's The Creation with the Choir of New College, Oxford (although I believe the venue is the stunning Gloucester Cathedral).

Thank you Maestro for many happy musical memories.

Deo Gratias - New Archbishop of Sydney is announced - Most Rev Anthony Fisher

It was this evening announced that His Holiness Pope Francis has appointed the Most Reverend Anthony Colin Fisher OP as the next Archbishop of Sydney. He succeeds George Cardinal Pell, now Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See. Click to see the official announcement from the Australian Nunciature, the Bishops' Conference statement here, new stories here, here and here, and the Archdiocesan website here and here (biography, media release from Parramatta Diocese, statement from Apostolic Administrator).  Bishop Fisher has been the Bishop of Parramatta since 2010, and was auxiliary bishop of Sydney before that. Before his priestly vocation, the Archbishop-designate read law at the University of Sydney (Australia's oldest law school) and worked at one of Australia's oldest law firms, Sydney-based Clayton Utz (see also here and here) - must be a good sort!

Listen to interviews with the Archbishop-designate here (ABC radio) and here (Vatican radio).  

The date of the Archbishop-designate's enthronement will be announced in due course.

Sydney still sede vacante