Twenty minutes of plainchant and polyphony at ten o'clock in the evening is not a standard Friday night option on the Isle of Wight. The Sung Service of Compline on 15 May at St John's Church in Newport is a Fairest Isle Festival event that works as a late-evening close to the day rather than the main event of it. Free entry, no booking required, and about twenty minutes in duration.
The service draws on the mid-16th century monastic office tradition. The opening plainchant, "Te lucis ante terminum" (Before the ending of the day), gives the Latin words an obvious relevance to a late-evening attendance. The polyphony that follows is short, precise, and built for the resonance of a stone church. Newport town centre is a five-minute walk away, so the service fits comfortably into an evening that started elsewhere in the festival programme.
Free entry. St John's Church, Newport. Appropriate for adults and older children. Part of the music and heritage programme running across the Fairest Isle Festival weekend.
