Andrew Carwood, director of The Cardinall’s Musick, talks to Alexandra Coghlan about the penitential quality of vocal music and its transformative power

Andrew Carwood, director of The Cardinall’s Musick, talks about the penitential quality of vocal music and its transformative power

The new Instagram filter for Ash Wednesday – a smudgy cross, digitally superimposed on the user’s forehead – is one of the many indications that this was never going to be an ordinary Lent.

Because how do we mark a time of isolation, reflection and self-denial in a year that has been defined by nothing but? Cut off from all contact points – physical and spiritual – how can we come together as a community to share in a journey through the wilderness?

For Andrew Carwood, artistic director of The Cardinall’s Musick and director of music at St Paul’s Cathedral, the answer lies in art. “Lent is a process,” he explains. “It’s not just about not eating sugar and achieving some arbitrary goal. Lent needs to be a development of thought, of self, and any art that helps you with that – whether it’s music, spoken ­word, or a painting – is tremendously useful.

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