"The way Andrew listens and hears music shapes the way he listens and hears people"

As St John’s College bids farewell this week to Director of Music Andrew Nethsingha, who is taking up the role of Organist and Master of Choristers at Westminster Abbey, he is remembered with enormous fondness. At Andrew’s final Evensong when he led the Choir of St John’s for the very last time, The Rev’d Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Chapel and Fellow of St John’s, paid tribute...

Friends,

Well, this is not an easy day for many of us. But it is an important one and needs marking well. And that’s why we are all here, I know. When Andrew several months ago asked what I thought about whether he should apply for the job at Westminster Abbey, I don’t think I’ve felt so conflicted.

As a friend, which he has truly become over the last four years, I wanted him to take up one of the most prestigious jobs in his field and to let the nation, at pivotal times in its life, enjoy his immense gift. This was a wonderful opportunity, he was clearly ready for it, of course he must apply.

As a colleague, though, the thought of losing him was difficult. You cannot look at what he has achieved with the choristers and lower voices under your charge and not feel the urge to suddenly interrupt and list all the many reasons why he mustn’t go and work for the Abbey or the Church of England – and by the way, I have that list if anyone wishes to look at it – but, at the end of the day, I knew if I came out with all that it was purely selfish, wanting to keep him for St John’s and a choir I’m very proud of. Of course, I knew he must apply.

And now comes the day that still isn’t easy – and yet I am so thrilled for him. It is all he deserves as the person at the top of his game that he is. A few people will say things about him in a moment, of the many ways he has touched lives, of young and old, developed skills, helped launch careers, encouraged people to climb over the walls of self-doubt, befriended, cared for, been loyal to the fragile, been a laugh at fun times, and, always, always, maintained the highest standards of musical excellence, admired throughout the world.

The way Andrew listens and hears music, I have no doubt, shapes the way he listens and hears people, hears their heartland and where life is not easy and where they may need help and someone to believe in them. And hearing that, he always offers everything he has to help get you through, no matter how busy, no matter how tired. This is a man whose creativity and direction never points back at himself but always at the place he wants his singers to get to for their achievement and fulfilment together, and for those of us who listen in, our rich enjoyment.

"He has taught me about the sacramentality of music, of the place of sound in the human soul"

Many times you can go to a church or a chapel and feel the music is competing for attention with the rest of the service, another ‘look at me’ anthem, or psalm sung as if it is as interesting as a curled up sandwich. I’m in my fifth year here, and in all my time I have only ever known a director of music in Andrew who wants to serve the liturgy, wants to feel and inhabit the words, wants the music to pray, to voice the human heart, to sensitively feel its way around the landscape of our lives, just as those psalms try to do. In Beethoven’s image, he doesn’t just practise his art, he forces his way into its secrets.

He has taught me about the sacramentality of music, of the place of sound in the human soul, and of knowing the places we can visit when words have to stop and music must begin. He has helped expand my faith by putting sound at the centre of it, it is a faith which probably like yours can totter from time to time, and go through its winters, but even then, his sensitive creativity and curation, captured in the slight movement of hands and the rising of an eyebrow, brings the soul back into harbour somehow.

I thank him for this very personally and I know the thousands of people who have found themselves sitting where you are now in this chapel, some in very dark places, some fresh and beginning new chapters, a few despairing and others with their hearts very high, they all want to thank him over 15 years for his art of holding them where they are.

So, Andrew, in the words of Winnie the Pooh: ‘How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard’. You’re a wonderful person. Remember us. Know we will think of you every day. And as for Westminster Abbey, well, go for it!

Director of Music at St John’s appointed as Organist and Master of Choristers at Westminster Abbey

St John’s College announces Christopher Gray as its new Director of Music 

Published 15/12/2022

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