In Gratitude to a Passionate Liturgist and Faithful Anglican

When Brigid Coult accepted the role of St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale’s (SMK) Music Director in 2002, it was with the hope that she would stay long-term. Indeed, with a music and choral career spanning over four decades, Brigid’s devotion to her ministry is both abiding and apparent.

            “I moved to Vancouver in 1982, thinking I would eventually work my way back home (to England). Forty years later, I’m still here! I’m just about to start my 30th season conducting Richmond Chorus, so long term is obviously in the genes!”

It is difficult to summarize forty years of music ministry and, equally so, to fully convey the grace Brigid Coult has shown in searching for and finding that unique space where music, liturgy, and worship meet and meld. Perhaps most simply put, St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale has been utterly blessed to have had Brigid Coult’s leadership, guidance, and gifted inspiration for the past twenty-one years. Her passion, gifts, and love for her calling are undeniable. Her leadership has inspired numerous parishioners. In her own words, she has “composed and arranged, coached and coaxed, made endless lists and charts, involved children, and handbells.” 

Over the years, Brigid has also assembled and retained a highly devoted group of parish and professional choristers; welcoming talented voices and encouraging those who simply love to sing. She navigated COVID with a steady hand, creating virtual choirs for online services so that worshippers would not go without. Her music and choral selections have both honoured and upheld tradition, while finding a place for new music as well. The congregation’s involvement has been encouraged. She has led us all in song, in all its many forms.

            “The main thing that really drew me (to St. Mary’s) was being challenged to do both the contemporary worship my practical soul wanted, and the traditional music my musical soul craved. There weren't many places that I could have both. And this came over the years, working with a series of clergy who respected my skills, my knowledge of the materials, and let me be pretty free to plan as I thought best.”

When the pandemic struck, an even more nuanced approach was needed.

            “Our worship styles at St. Mary’s 9:15 and 11:15am services were so different. Our 9:15 worship expressed an imminent theology, God here among us. At the 11:15, the sense was of God out there, reaching beyond to beauty. It is a truism that music expresses things words can’t, but at the same time, what works musically for one person doesn’t always work for another.”

 A cradle Anglican, from a family where her father’s passion was choral music (although he was a scientist by training), Brigid fondly recalls her first childhood church, St. Nicholas in Liverpool, “affectionately known as St. Nick’s.” 

There, she experienced “the joys of High Anglican worship — bells and smells, solemn processions, and wonderful music. As a teenager, we moved to a rural village in Nottinghamshire, where church was low-church and the music less expert.” 

However, it may be said that both styles of music and worship would have a lasting influence on Brigid’s music ministry. Her focus while at Liverpool University was instrumental. She sang, but not seriously, until an unexpected turning point.

            “It was not until the summer after I completed my degree that singing became a passion. I became involved with a group of Oxford and Cambridge choral scholars, doing a two-week course of singing Matins and Evensong every day at Chester Cathedral. Discovering the incredible wealth of Anglican choral music, and that I was more than capable of holding my own in a group of people who read and sang at an incredibly high level, was a wonderful experience. The day we were scheduled to sing the Allegri “Miserere,” our soprano soloist developed laryngitis, and I discovered five top Cs I didn’t know I had. After that, everything refocused.”

A teaching stint followed, then time with the School of Music in Leicestershire doing administrative work for the county network of bands and orchestras. Throughout that, choral singing remained a passion and yet, there were obstacles. “Sadly, the church music I loved was not open to women at the level I was seeking."

Canada beckoned, and Brigid arrived in British Columbia in 1982. She set down roots within the community at Christ Church Cathedral, finding a “second family…and wonderful service music such as I’d enjoyed with my Oxbridge friends.” 

Her first Christmas services as Christ Church Cathedral marked a sense of homecoming in this new community into which she would be woven over the years to follow.

            “I learned an immense amount from Patrick Wedd — both the practicalities of dealing with a choir and all the preparation that goes with it, but also the bigger picture of what was happening with church music. Patrick had actually come to the Cathedral from St. Mary’s, Kerrisdale, and was a serious mover-and-shaker in the place of music within liturgy. I was hungry for the beauty of the serious classical repertoire we sang, but I was also excited by the music that he was creating for what became The Book of Alternative Services — music with a contemporary language and a very different sound. This was wall very new to me, as were the theological concepts that went with it. Working with clergy like Jim Cruickshank, Dirk Rinehart, Lynne McNaughton…opened my eyes to enormous possibilities.” 

 This new understanding Brigid brought to her first position as music director at St. Alban’s in Richmond. 

            “I pushed the bounds of what was a pretty basic parish church choir to turn them into a group that sang a wide variety of music — both the contemporary style…and the more demanding repertoire I found for them.”

Brigid credits Patrick Wedd for her involvement with the national group tasked with bringing together the Common Praise hymnal. In Vancouver, she coordinated the Service Music Task Force, collaborated with Steve Morgan, who was then music director at SMK, and travelled to and from Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto twice a year for meetings. "This was pre-Zoom!”

Throughout her ministry, Brigid has served on several diocesan groups, helped coordinate a variety of workshops, and has been instrumental in presenting guests such as John Bell and Marty Haugen, who spent Holy Week in 2015, with St. Mary’s. She was involved in the music for the World Council of Churches in 1983, has lead music at Synod events, as well as for Bishop Melissa’s Consecration.

            “I feel very blessed that I’ve been recognized as a music leader and trusted by so many of the clergy with whom I’ve worked to select hymnody and other music that defines our worship. And there have been many “special services at St. Mary’s where the choir team has moved me by singing their hearts out.”

Of course, no tribute to Brigid would be complete without hearing from some those who worked most closely with her.

            “One of the greatest gifts Brigid has brought to St. Mary's is her ability to embrace with enthusiasm a wide range of church music spanning more than four centuries from late Renaissance composers like Palestrina and William Byrd, to contemporary composers like Patrick Wedd, Marty Haugen, and David Taylor. She has far exceeded all our expectations.”~ Margaret Briscall, ODNW

            “As a performer, you notice the subtleties of the weird things happening. A violin player had broken a string. A string in a bag was being shuffled along the floor by the players feet. Brigid stopped the concert and the player got up and left. After another movement in the concert, Brigid stopped and the player returned. It was seamless. Brigid can see the whole thing and knows what to do.”~ Jim Hilton

            “One of things about Brigid that always impresses me is that each chorister has their own numbered cubby hole. Mine is 23. All the music that Brigid hands out has our number on it. It appears magically in our boxes at the appropriate time to begin practicing for us to learn it. When we are done presenting it, we hand it in, Brigid gets it filed and then when we sing it again, my numbered music comes back to me and has all my markings. I think that this is pretty standard practice for choirs, BUT, Brigid is so organized.”~ Lea Starr

            “Brigid calls us to lift up our voices in prayer and praise, her ministry being not just beautiful music but also to nurture our souls as we make the very best music that each one of us can, our own best, in community and communion.”~ Susanna Egan

            “Brigid’s gift to St. Mary’s and the wider church is that while she is indeed a gifted musician, she is also a passionate liturgist and a faithful Anglican. Her ability to balance the three of those is what allows her gifts to truly shine, and I am so grateful for her willingness to share them with St. Mary’s for so many years, she will truly be missed.”~ Lindsay Hills, St. Mary’s Rector

            “After this? I’m not quite sure. I will miss the parish family at SMK. I hope to be able to return to a connection with the national church. I still have my work with Richmond Chorus, the BC Choral Federation, as well as my volunteer work with the RAPS Cat Sanctuary in Richmond. I don’t think I’ll be spending my retirement twiddling my thumbs!”

                 

 As we mark Brigid Coult’s retirement, we give thanks for Brigid’s ever-devoted music ministry which she has so generously shared with us at St. Mary’s, and with the wider diocese. Thank you, Brigid. May your gifts of music continue nourish to you, as you have nourished us through music and song.    

All photos of the worship and reception on June 4, 2023, by Kingsley Genaille

(Photos of the Feast of Pentecost Evensong, May 28 are available here on this website and in a collection on the diocesan Facebook page "Anglican Conversation".)

IMAGES (in top scroll)

• Brigid Coult  Photo Submitted
• Long time SMK organist, Susan Ohannesian and Brigid  Photo Submitted
• Brigid receives a farewell blessing at the 10am service, Trinity Sunday, June 4, 2023  
  
• (L to R) the Rev. Roberta Fraser (Associate Priest), the Rev. Lindsay Hills (Rector), Brigid Coult (Music Director) -- enjoy their lunch at the head table.
• Brigid holding up the Teddy Bear that parishioner Christine Mitchell made for her. (The presentation of handmade Teddy Bear, to all who are leaving, is a tradition at St. Mary's). 
• Rector the Rev. Lindsay Hills shares a touching speech and presents Brigid with flowers and the parish gift. 

IMAGES (in the body copy)

• St. Nick's, Liverpool Photo iStock
  
• Brigid and choristers gathered for a group photo
• The choir sings a goodbye song for Brigid written by choir member Dawn Ross. It was both joyful and sad. 
• After several tributes and presentations, Brigid shares her gratitude and thanks to the community. 
• Paul Ohannesian holding the collage that he made that was presented to Brigid.