City's patron saint to be honoured in concert

Jan 29 2009 Frank Hurley

GLASGOW'S patron saint will be honoured at a special concert this weekend.

The concert on Saturday, January 31, will celebrate the life of St Kentigern, more commonly known as St Mungo.

The Fife-born monk is credited with establishing and expanding the city of Glasgow around the sixth century.

Historic Glasgow presents The Life of St Kentigern, in song, performed by Canty, Scotland's only professional medieval music group and Schola Glasguensis, an all male group formed to preserve the Church's tradition of sacred chant.

Entry to the concert, which starts at 1.15pm, is free but seating in Glasgow Cathedral is limited and seats will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

This will be the first public performance of chant melodies, taken from the Vita St Kentigern (Life of St Kentigern in Latin).

The interpretation of this ancient manuscript was painstakingly translated and edited by scholars Betty Knot Sharp and Greta-Mary Hair from Edinburgh University, over a number of years.

Canty will perform nine Matins Responsories taken from Matins for St Kentigern, one of the Offices, or Hours of Prayer, which was traditionally sung on the feast of St Mungo (January 13) in medieval times. These Matins together with Vespers and Lauds can be found in the Sprouston Breviary dated circa 1300, which is currently held in The National Library of Scotland.

Rebecca Taverner, director of Canty, said: "This music is very special, original and lovely and it is a privilege and a pleasure for us to bring it to life for modern audiences.

"It proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that Glasgow's well deserved reputation as a hotbed of creativity has a time-line that extends back almost as far as recorded history itself.

"We are very excited about this performance and we're also thrilled to be giving the world premieres of three wonderful new pieces inspired by St Kentigern."