Those who wait for the Lord is a short, new choral introit from young composer Benedict Tanner, set for unaccompanied SATB choir. The setting of words from Isaiah  won runner-up prize in the 2020 David Willcocks Trust/Choir Schools' Association Composition Competition (Under 14 category) with this setting. 
 
A former St Paul's Cathedral Chorister, Benedict is currently a music scholar at Rugby School, where he studies violin, viola, piano and organ. He says: “I enjoyed my time at St Paul’s, and was fortunate to sing for the Queen’s 90th Birthday service and to tour America with the Choir. I loved singing services every day in the Cathedral, and learnt so much from wonderful musicians such as Andrew Carwood, Simon Johnson, William Fox, and James Orford. I sang a broad repertoire of music from Byrd to Britten, and particularly enjoyed singing music that was specially written for the choir.
 
It was music like Behold Now Praise The Lord by Matthew Martin which inspired me to write music of my own. I have composed a variety of different kinds of music, such as a setting of the Christmas text, What Child Is This, and writing music underneath a scene from Wallace and Gromit. I particularly enjoy putting music to text, and it was the opportunity to do this that attracted me to this competition. I’m very grateful to my two academic music teachers over the past couple of years for encouraging me to compose: Mark Kennedy at St Paul’s Cathedral School and Tori Brandwood at Rugby School. I have ambitions to be a musician when I am older; I suspect that it will involve composition and organ playing.”
 
This delightful choral miniature is dedicated to the choir of St Paul's Cathedral and its Director of Music, Andrew Carwood. There are divisions for a few bars for the Soprano part (and one chord for the Altos). It was sung as part of a BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong, broadcast on 11 august 2021 from Rugby School Chapel. Listen to it here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tp7r/episodes/player
or just this piece: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09rxkfq
 
More details on Choral Evensong, sung live (and some streamed) around the United Kingdom: www.choralevensong.org/uk/
 
Benedict comes from a very musical family: his father, Richard Tanner, was Organist and Director of Music at Blackburn Cathedral from 1998 to 2011, and is now Director of Music at Rugby School, one of the UK's most prestigious and historic independent schools. His mother, Philippa Hyde, is a professional soprano singer, working internationally.
 
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Words from Isaiah 40:31
 
See also Benedict Tanner's setting of the carol What Child Is This? from Fullscore Publishing: 
www.fullscoremusic.co.uk/product-page/what-child-is-this-christmas-carol 
 
The annual Choir Schools' Association Composition Competition is held in memory of Sir David Willcocks, who spent so much of his life involved with cathedral, church and other choral music as a chorister, organ scholar, cathedral organist and choral director:
www.choirschools.org.uk/news/congratulations-to-these-young-composers/