Andrew Gant talks to Adrian Daffern

Composer, choirmaster, teacher and writer Andrew Gant talks to Canon Adrian Daffern about his new account of English church music from its Anglo Saxon origins to the present day. Woodstock Chamber Choir will sing to illustrate some of the discussion points.

Gant explains how people made and listened to church music and the role it played in their lives, demonstrating how it reflected historical and cultural change from the mysteries of Mass to the Reformation anthem, Puritanism, Victorian bombast and the fractured world of the 20th century.  He considers why church music remains so popular today and frequently tops the classical charts.

Gant has directed leading choirs including The Guards’ Chapel, Worcester College Oxford, and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal. He led the Chapel Royal choir at many major events, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. He lectures in music at St Peter’s College and St Edmund Hall in Oxford, and is also author of Christmas Carols: From Village Green to Church Choir.

Daffern is team rector of the benefice of Blenheim. He was canon residentiary at Coventry Cathedral for seven years and studied theology at the University of Durham.

In association with the Woodstock Music Society.