Nervous Before Performance At LFCCM
- Dominic McGonigal
- May 12
- 1 min read
Tuesday, 12th of May 2026
I always get nervous before a performance and today was no exception. I know I shouldn’t - I’m not performing, I know the LFCCM Festival Singers are going to be superb. Then as soon as they started singing, I was in the zone, wrapped up in the counterpoint of Rorate Caeli, enjoying the layering of the voices creating ever richer chords. Then it ends with a solo countertenor, one note suspended, in a tribute to my teacher at Cambridge, Peter Tranchell.
It was also a joy to hear 11 other pieces, all different, and all a credit to the London Festival Of Contemporary Church Music for giving an airing to all this wonderful new music. Łukasz Urbaniak’s Christe Lux Mundi had a lovely harmonic progression, coloured by added notes giving it a modal richness. Adam Kujava presented a beautiful setting of O Sacrum Convivium, ending with that wonderful chord Messiaen uses in his O Sacrum Convivium.
We composers were thirsty after exposing ourselves musically. Round the corner from Southwark Cathedral is the Rake, with 21 beers on tap. Łukasz had a whiskey – but it was Irish so that’s OK!
Dominic at Southwark Cathedral.MOV - nervous before the performance
LFCCM Festival Singers rehearsing Rorate Caeli.mp4 - LFCCM Festival Singers rehearsing Rorate Caeli
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