A HAUNTING new piece of music will fill Salisbury Cathedral this Holy Week as the Cathedral Choir prepares to premiere a major new commission during one of its most atmospheric services.

Composer Piers Kennedy has written a sequence of nine pieces, arranged as three Nocturnes, for the Sarum Tenebrae: A Service of Shadows on Wednesday, April 1.

Tenebrae is among the most powerful and dramatic services in the Christian calendar, combining unaccompanied choral music, candlelit processions and readings as the cathedral is gradually plunged into darkness. The service reflects the final hours of Christ’s life, from betrayal to crucifixion and burial.

Kennedy’s new work mirrors that journey, moving from the tension of Maundy Thursday through the suffering of Good Friday to the quiet hope of Easter Eve. Each Nocturne blends English plainsong, Latin antiphons and Medieval English choral writing.

“It was a thrill writing this commission – not only is this a choir with a long history of quality music-making, and Salisbury Cathedral such a glorious space, but also writing for Holy Week comes with a special brand of brooding, rippling drama,” he said.

“The especially stark darkness of the Tenebrae service with its three Nocturnes of three movements holds a pleasingly apposite resonance with the shining Nine Lessons and Carols service, instigated by King’s College Cambridge; I fancy my composition as something of a dark twin to that other tradition.”

He added: “It was important to me to compose new plainsong for the psalmody – somewhat more angular in nature than the usual – not just to be able to bind each Nocturne together in a particular sound world, but also to capture something of that deep, aching sting of Holy Week liturgy.”

Assistant Director of Music John Challenger said: “It is wonderful to build on this tradition by commissioning Piers to compose his own unique response to the Tenebrae liturgy.”

“We are very excited to be premiering new works by one of our leading young choral composers, in such an atmospheric act of worship.”

The service begins at 7.30pm and will be sung by the Cathedral Choir’s boy choristers and Lay Vicars.