CHANCEL CHOIR TRAVELS TO NEW YORK

The Chancel Choir in St. Thomas Church

The Chancel Choir took a "mini tour" to New York City this summer, having been invited to sing at two of the city's most notable churches on Sunday, July 22, 2007.

The first stop on the trip was to sing for the 11:00 am Service of Holy Eucharist at St. Thomas Church, on Fifth Ave at 53rd Street.   St. Thomas has one of the most remarkable music programs in the country, with an internationally renowned choir of men and boys.   John Scott, formerly Director of Music at London's St. Paul's Cathedral, is now Director at St. Thomas', and extended the invitation to our group to sing in New York.   Incidentally, this is also the church where former TPC Assistant Organist Chris Lane served for two years as Assistant Organist. (More pictures)

In the afternoon of July 22, the choir moved to St. Bartholomew's Church at Park Avenue and 51st Street, singing a service of Choral Evensong at 5:00 pm.   St. Bart's also has a long tradition of some of the finest choral and organ music in New York, as well as creative and ambitious religious arts programming, and houses the largest pipe organ in the city.   It's architecture is stunning, and provided a wonderful setting for our choir to sing. (More pictures)

Have you ever wondered how the pipe organ works? How the instrument makes such a wide variety of sounds? Through this demonstration and mini-recital, Director of Music/Organist Peter DuBois will answer your questions, and along the way will perform works by J. S. Bach and William Albright on the church’s 4-manual Austin pipe organ.

In recognition of October 28 being Reformation Sunday, Peter will perform Max Reger's dramatic chorale fantasy on "A Mighty Fortress", Martin Luther's great Reformation hymn.

The organ console will be moved out in full view for this event, so don't miss this chance to hear - and to see - how the organ works!

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The popular series of Chapel Concerts by Candlelight returns for its third season, with four concerts this year in the intimate beauty and wonderful acoustic of Third Church’s Chapel. The first concert this season will be performed by the acclaimed choral group Christ Church Schola Cantorum led by founder and director Stephen Kennedy. Best known for their weekly singing of the Office of Compline at downtown’s Christ Church (Episcopal) on East Avenue on Sunday evenings, the Schola Cantorum is recognized nationally as a leading ensemble for the performance of early sacred choral music and chant, contemporary music, and choral improvisation.

The program for this concert will include music spanning several centuries, including works by Renaissance and Baroque composers Thomas Tallis, Claudio Merulo, Claudio Monteverdi, and contemporary composers Arvo Pärt and John Tavener.

The program is free and open to the public. An offering will be received to support future concerts. Additional programs in the series will be on December 6, January 31, and April 10.

This series is made possible in large part through the generosity of the Janet S. and David B. Reed Fund.

The holiday season would not be complete without the sounds of brass! And to help things along, the second program in the four-concert season will feature The Emerald Brass Quintet, formed in 2006 by five graduate students at the Eastman School of Music. Their exciting and educational programs have been heard throughout New York and Pennsylvania in churches, recital halls, and school auditoriums. Their concerts are filled with sparkling virtuosity and music from the Renaissance to Dixieland and swing charts to contemporary standards for brass.

The program for this concert will include music spanning several centuries, including works by Ewald, Plog, Kamen, Holborne, Renwick and others.

Performers include trumpeters Brett Long and Robby McCabe; Allen Fogle, horn; Chris Van Hof, trombone; and TJ Ricer, tuba. All are graduate students at the Eastman School of Music.

The program is free and open to the public. An offering will be received to support future concerts. Additional programs in the series will be on January 31, and April 10.

This series is made possible in large part through the generosity of the Janet S. and David B. Reed Fund.

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

Special Music in Worship
Sunday, December 16 at 10:45 a.m.

The Chancel Choir will present early twentieth-century composer Ottorino Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity as its special music for Advent. Respighi, perhaps best known for his orchestral works The Pines of Rome, Roman Festivals, and The Fountains of Rome, has created a lovely pastoral piece for choir and wind ensemble. Its lush harmonies provide a beautiful setting for the familiar story which includes the Angel’s announcement of Christ’s birth; the shepherds’ arrival at the stable; and Mary’s cradle song.

Third Presbyterian Church is preparing to present our seventh Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival!

Months of planning and work go into the production of the festival - from costume designing and making, to rehearsals of the choir’s music, to building and acquiring props, to the many other tasks and details necessary to organize the cast, choir and orchestra of over 160 persons!

For information about this year's festival, click here.

Scott Perkins, former Third Church tenor soloist, will be joined by lutenist and guitarist Dieter Hennings, in a beautiful program of Renaissance and Baroque music for tenor and lute. Scott, a native of Connecticut, is a graduate student in theory and composition at the Eastman School of Music. Dieter, a native of Mexico, is dedicated to promoting new music for the guitar, as well as early music for lute, baroque guitar and theorbo. They will join forces in this unique and engaging program.

The program is free and open to the public. An offering will be received to support future concerts. The final program in the series will be on April 10th.

This series is made possible in large part through the generosity of the Janet S. and David B. Reed Fund.

The six motets of Johann Sebastian Bach stand among the greatest of all of his choral works. To enrich our worship during the season of Lent, the Chancel Choir, soloists, and instrumental ensemble will perform the most substantial and profound of these motets, Jesu, meine Freude (Jesus, Priceless Treasure).

Based on a seventeenth century chorale tune by Johann Crüger, Bach takes the text by Johann Franck, and weaves it together with texts from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, to form a beautiful piece of musical and theological architecture.

Click here for more information.

An offering will be received to support future special music presentations.
Funds for purchase of the music for this presentation were given by friends and family to the glory of God and in loving memory of The Reverend Lois Gillaspie.

The final program in this season of Chapel Concerts by Candlelight will feature brilliant harpsichordist Susan Toman of Montreal. Susan is currently completing a Doctorate in Harpsichord Performance at McGill University where she focuses on French music of the eighteenth century. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Michigan in Keyboard Instruments where she specialized in harpsichord, piano, and fortepiano. Her performances have taken her throughout the United States and Canada.

Susan’s program for this concert features music entirely by Jean-Philippe Rameau, one of France’s greatest composers of the eighteenth century. She will perform his Nouvelles suites de clavecin. Rameau uses the harpsichord brilliantly, and these two suites published in his last collection of keyboard music in 1726 are dramatic, bold, elegant, witty and humorous.

The program is free and open to the public. An offering will be received to support future concerts.

This series is made possible in large part through the generosity of the Janet S. and David B. Reed Fund.