A choral conductor and scholar of sacred music explains what’s missing from church worship with singing banned due to the pandemic – and why live choir rehearsals are still a ways off
Nick Cave performing with The Bad Seeds in Budapest in June. His song lyrics, with those often melancholy, churchy organ chords, are dripping in references to what might be called sacredness.
Zoltan Balogh/EPA
The enquiry into sacredness is not over, it’s just beginning for the 21st century, and in wildly disparate modes and places. In music, Nick Cave, Hozier and Dr G. Yunupingu have led the way.
Sister Frances Carr, left, and Brother Arnold Hadd of the Shaker Village sing during a rehearsal on Sept. 13, 1995.
AP Photo/Adam Nadel