The Third Church Chancel choir will join forces with the choirs of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Christ Church (Downtown) to present a service of Choral Evensong. The service is offered in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the radio program "With Heart and Voice", produced and distributed nationally by WXXI and hosted by Richard Gladwell. Music for the service will include anthems by Ralph Vaughan Williams and David Fetler, and canticles by Herbert Howells. The service is free and open to the public, and will be recorded for later broadcast. Come, and join in the celebration!

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is located at the corner of East Avenue and Westminister Road

Invite your friends to join you for this enjoyable evening of organ music featuring Third Church Director of Music/Organist Peter DuBois, performing on the 4-manual Austin organ in our sanctuary. The program will include works by J. S. Bach, Hugo Distler, César Franck, Herbert Howells, Max Reger, Camille Saint-Saëns and Louis Vierne.

ThirdArts is pleased to present this festival, featuring some of the many musical ensembles of Third Church. This program will include hymns and anthems showing several of the many different ways Christ is portrayed in sacred literature and song. Congregational participation will also be an important part of this event, so come along to enjoy the glorious music!

Groups participating in the evening include: The Junior Choir, Third Church Ringers, Covenant Singers, and the Chancel Choir. The program is free and open to the public, so invite your friends and neighbors to join you!

During the worship service, the Chancel Choir, soloists, and instrumental ensemble will present two wonderful twentieth century choral works as a special musical offering for Advent:

• German composer Hugo Distler's "A Little Advent Music", based on the hymn "Savior of the Nations, Come", which includes a delightful accompaniment of flute, oboe, violin, cello and organ.
• English composer Gerald Finzi's exquisite "In Terra Pax", with baritone and soprano solos sung by Jonathan Michie and Betsy Marvin, which portrays in picturesque and atmospheric musical language the appearance of the angels to the shepherds.

Plan to be present for these wonderful musical works in the context of worship. A special offering will be received that day to support the expenses for these and other special music presentations in our worship.

Listen to the Johann Franz von Herbeck: Pueri Concinite with Robert Swensen, tenor, and The Chancel Choir, from the 2002 Service of Lessons and Carols. (MP3 file - 4.2 MBytes)

Third Church tenor soloist and Eastman student Kevin Park will give a recital in the Third Church Sanctuary on Friday, February 4 at 8:00pm.

Kevin will be joined by soprano Halley Gilbert, also an Eastman student, in a program of favorite solos and duets from the sacred, song, and operatic literature by composers including Brahms, Fauré and Verdi. Kevin has appeared as a leading tenor on the Eastman Theatre stage, and will be appearing this spring as Ruggero in the Eastman Opera Theatre’s production of Puccini’s La Rondine. All will be accompanied by Peter DuBois, Matthew Brown and Eastman pianist Jessica Yam. Kevin and Halley are both students of Robert McIver, and Kevin is in his third season singing with the Chancel Choir.

Kevin has offered this program to benefit the Chancel Choir 2005 Tour, and given recent world events, the Tsunami relief efforts being coordinated through the Presbyterian Church, USA. Though admission to the recital is free, an offering will be received to help support these two efforts.

During the worship service, the Chancel Choir, Soloists and Orchestra will present the exquisite Requiem, Op.48 by late nineteenth century French composer Gabriel Fauré.

This gorgeous music is especially appropriate for our Lenten experience, and it is our hope that you will find it to be a meaningful part of your own Lenten journey. A special music offering will be received that morning to support the presentation of this and other special musical events.

Scott Stratton-Smith will be presenting one of his popular special music previews about the Fauré Requiem during the Adult Education hour on March 13 at 9:30am. Come and bring a friend to both Adult Education and for the 10:45 worship service.

On Sunday, June 5 at 4:00pm, the Chancel Choir will present a Service of Choral Evensong in the sanctuary, followed by a reception in Johnston Hall. This 45-minute service of scripture, prayer and music, based on traditions observed in the Anglican church for many centuries, will feature some of the music the choir is preparing for its summer tour of England and Scotland.

Invite friends and neighbors to join you...you won't want to miss this special worship experience! It is free and open to the public.

As the final fund-raising event for this summer’s tour to England and Scotland, the Chancel Choir will be performing an all-day Hymn-A-Thon in the Sanctuary on Saturday, June 18, beginning at 9:00am.

Members of the choir will be singing in shifts all the way through The Presbyterian Hymnal - from Hymn #1 through Hymn #564 - all day long! You are invited to drop in at any point and join in the singing…

Ways you can help support the event:

• PLEDGE your support in one of several ways:
  • see any choir member, or visit the pledge table in Johnston Hall after worship on Sundays to make a pledge per hymn sung. (i.e. $.05 per hymn = $28.20, $.10 per hymn = $56.40, etc.)
  • choose to dedicate one or more hymns to be sung in honor or in memory of someone. Each dedication will cost $50, and the donor will receive a certificate recognizing the dedication, AND a guarantee that all verses of that hymn will be sung! Get those dedications in early…the most popular hymns are likely to go fast!
  • make a flat donation to the Hymn-A-Thon either at the pledge table, by contacting any choir member, or by mailing it to the church, 4 Meigs St, Rochester, NY 14607, and marking your check “Hymn-A-Thon.”
  
  
• COME AND SING with us for any part of the day on June 18, beginning at 9:00am. It will be a fun and novel way to help the choir, AND you’ll inevitably get to sing some old favorite hymns as well as explore some of the unsung treasures in our hymnal! Come and join the fun!

For more information about the Hymn-A-Thon, contact David Gregory at dstargreg@yahoo.com or 944-5830.