| Jeremy
Spurgeon: 25 Years!
Catherine Luck has been a member of All Saints’ Cathedral
choir since January, 1991 and cherish my time with the choir and
her “front row seat” to Jeremy’s playing every
Sunday, so it was a pleasure for her to have the opportunity to
ask Jeremy about his time at All Saints’ Cathedral.
C: So – not very original, but - will you
please tell me where you were born, and where you went to school?
J: I was born in London but grew up in Enfield.
I share my birthday with my sister Lindsay, but at age two she was
not impressed with a baby brother as a birthday present. I went
to a C of E church school from age 4 ½ to 11, and then to
Kingsmead School.
C: When did you actually start music lessons?
J: I started piano lessons when I was six, and
organ lessons as soon as I could reach the pedals (age 12) at our
local church, St. Paul’s.
C: What led you to decide to become a musician?
J: I first considered surveying as I wanted to
pursue something to do with “the land,” but after spending
time as an accompanist for school choirs, and doing some recording
at the BBC with choirs, I decided to be a professional musician.
Before leaving school I had been accepted by four colleges and chose
to go to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester; people
thought I was crazy but I really wanted a change … oh –
and they offered me a scholarship. I graduated after three years
(principal instrument: organ, secondary instrument: piano).
C: And after you graduated?
J: As a student you needed a church in which to
practise so I became organist of the Church of the Ascension and
then at Bowdon Parish Church where I “ran” a mixed choir
of 25. This was a lovely parish church, and everything in the parish
was so close that I could easily deliver my Christmas cards by hand.
I spent five wonderful years in Manchester, had a great time and
made some wonderful friends.
C: Where did you go and what did you do after you left Manchester?
J: I went to study at the Geneva Conservatoire
and lived with an American family associated with an international
organization. It was a further idyllic two years … gave me
a good chance to sample fine Swiss cuisine; I was practising at
least eight hours a day and needed fortification! I had a choir
here, too, at the American Episcopal Church, and this was my introduction
to Thursday night choir rehearsal. The members would often arrive
having just got off a plane from some exotic city like Cairo.
C: So how was it that you came to Canada?
J: While I was still in Geneva a friend was sent
an advert. for the position of organist at All Saints’ Cathedral
but he wasn’t interested so he passed it on to me. A few months
later I was in Winnipeg on holiday and since I was so close I rang
the Dean and to see how things stood. (While in Winnipeg I experienced
first “hand” the effects of mosquitoes; I was bitten
while giving an organ recital and my hand swelled up like a balloon
before my very eyes!) I was invited to Edmonton for an interview,
offered the position, and spent the next six months back in England
while the paperwork was sorted out.
C: Tell me about your very first Sunday here?
J: It was 13 April, 1980; Low Sunday. Hugh Bancroft
played Easter Sunday and I slid on to the bench the following week.
C: Did Hugh leave you with any pointers, or advice?
J: No, but he did teach me how to make a Manhattan.
C: Do you remember any first impressions? Any “constants”
since then?
J: I do remember discovering that no one seemed
to know where to turn the lights off; I figured it out and have
been doing it ever since. The choir practised Thursday evenings,
and John Gee was with them when I started so he is the main “constant.”
C: Tell me a bit about our organ.
J: It is similar to the ones I grew up with …
easy to manage for solo or recital playing. It’s a good organ
and has ever only needed routine maintenance.
C: I know that you now have a very varied musical
career; when did you become active on the greater Edmonton musical
scene?
J: I started playing with the ESO fairly early
on … in fact, I played the Poulenc Organ Concerto with the
ESO at All Saints’ in 1981, and just last week-end I was onstage
at the Winspear Centre while one of my former teachers, Dame Gillian
Weir, played the same piece. As far as other musical engagements,
I’ve always been interested in playing all styles of music
and I’m usually game for anything.
C: What do you like to do when you’re not sitting
on some music bench?
J: I enjoy off-beat movies at Metro Cinema, or
the Princess Theatre and, of course, cycling. I always cycled when
I was younger but didn’t have a bike during college. It was
in 1983 when William Roberts, Assistant Priest here, proposed a
Youth Group Cycling Tour. Neither of us had a bike so we rented
a tandem … it was so much fun that I went out and bought a
bike. The next year I bought the bike I have now, and the following
year I went on my first cycling trip. I’ve toured almost every
summer since – all over the U.K., Holland, Belgium and France,
and on Vancouver Island and along the Banff-Jasper highway.
C: Since coming to All Saints’ is there any
particular event or service that you think of as a highlight?
J: I think my most exciting service was Easter
Sunday, 1996; at the conclusion of the processional hymn the organ
ciphered! A pipe was stuck in the open position and the only thing
I could do – with the entire congregation as witness –
was to get a ladder, climb up, and physically lift the pipe and
plug the hole to stop the wind from whistling through the wrong
channel. After the service a parishioner came up to me and said,
“We’ve decided to re-name the cathedral the Church of
the Ladder Day Saints!’
C: Do you think of Canada as home now?
J: Well, I’ve taken the big step of buying
my own home …when I go back to England it always feel like
I’m going home, but I always like coming back here.
C: Jeremy, as someone who has been privileged to
be a member of your choir for many years and who has witnessed your
skill in making every Sunday feel special and wonderful, how do
you approach things in order to manage this?
J: I do what I can to create the right atmosphere
each Sunday. It’s a challenge getting the right “feel”
because we use such a diverse body of music. As a part of the service
I believe the music should be cohesive, appropriate and meaningful.
—Catherine Luck
Caption for the photograph: Here he is pontificating
on the merits of French cheese.
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