A Year-end
Report to St. Paul’s Congregation:
This report
covers our musical activities from December of 2007 to the present.
The goal of the Music Program is to provide quality music to enhance worship services: We are doing this by
1. Developing the musical skills of interested musicians and utilizing those skills to provide quality music for Sunday morning worship services, weddings, funerals and other church celebrations
2. Maintaining our church instruments
3. Additionally,
we are offering a Masterworks Chorus Program as community outreach.
To meet this goal our accomplishments this year include:
1.Church Choirs
Rev. May
installed our choristers on September 28 during the regular worship
service. Our Adult Choir remains dependable and faithful to the
service of our church…always a pleasure to work with and always a
pleasure to hear...always working on special music for our church celebrations.
Membership is always open; no auditions are required.
Our Children’s Choir meets twice a month in the Parish House during our worship service. They are working with Noma Loveland on a musical to be presented at Christmastime. New singers are always welcome.
2.Instrumental Maintenance
Chris Izzi
of Waldorf has tuned our pianos this year. They have maintained
their tuning very well this season. The Bergey Memorial Steinway
Piano and The Kitterman Memorial Knabe Baby Grand Piano continue to
serve us very well. We have used them for worship services, rehearsals,
concerts and student recitals.
Jim Andrews
has tuned the Richard Gros Pipe Organ twice this year. There has
been no work done on the organ chamber shutters. They still remain
closed when the organ is turned off. Temperature fluctuations
and humidity problems continue to cause problems. I am trusting
that under the guidance of the newly established Organ Committee we
can soon raise funds to rectify this problem. The old electromechanical
relays in the original swell chamber (from the 1920’s) are now failing
off and on causing notes to cipher. I wish to thank my husband
Bob, Stuart Ashton, and Chris Knowlton for replacing relays as needed.
The Organ Committee Report will give additional information on repairing
and upgrading our pipe organ.
3.Masterworks Chorus Concerts
St. Paul’s
presents three Masterworks Concerts annually, showcasing all three of
our Masterworks Choruses, and many outstanding instrumentalists and
soloists. This year I have had the pleasure of being the director
of the Youth and Adult Masterworks Choruses. Kara Pekar, one of
our Adult Masterworks Chorus singers, is now directing the Junior SPMC.
The Children’s
Masterworks Choruses presented their 12th annual
“Candlelight Vesper Service of Music” at St. Paul’s on Sunday,
May 18. There were lots of new young singers in the Junior Masterworks
Chorus. The Junior SPMC presented
The Wind by Bisbee, This Little Light
of Mine by Patterson, Forever We Sing arr. by Paradowski,
and Who Built the Ark? by Reeves, accompanied by drums, tambourine,
flute, and special sound effects by the children themselves. Dan
Knowlton of St. Paul’s and Beth Loudin of Trinity
United Methodist Church were the percussionists. James Kennedy
of Oakland Baptist Church played flute. Anne Knowlton and Rebecca
Campbell of Trinity United Methodist Church served as piano accompanists.
The Youth
Masterworks Chorus accompanied by Anne Knowlton on the piano and Dan
Knowlton and Beth Loudin on percussion, presented four anthems including
Father, Forgive Us by Courtney, dedicated by the composer to
the victims of hurricane Katrina, and
Rejoice and Sing, “Hosanna to the King!”
by Larson. The twelve young men in our Youth SPMC presented
Spiritual Medley, arranged for three-part men’s chorus by Berry.
The women of the chorus will sang a beautiful vocal adaptation based
on the second movement of Mozart’s
Clarinet Concerto in A Major
(K.622), written by Aamot. It featured clarinetist Katherine James.
The full chorus sang Courtney’s We Must Silence the Stones With
Our Praise.
Many members
of the Youth SPMC have been members of this chorus since they were a
young as five years old. Seven of them (Kelsy Abel, Rebecca Campbell,
Carrie Cullin, Katherine Cumbee, Emily Jones, Nate McLaughlin, and Rebecca
Wright) graduated this year, and are now continuing their musical studies
in college. Rebecca Campbell performed Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata on the piano, Carrie Cullin sang a duet of Malotte’s
Lord’s Prayer with her sister Amanda.
Gospel soloist Ken Paige once again blessed us with his fine baritone voice. The concert concluded with Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord! by Beck, written in the style of a breezy cakewalk, with the Junior and Youth SPMC joining forces. This piece gave Anne Knowlton an opportunity to exhibit her jazz skills! The concert was well attended.
The St.
Paul’s Masterworks Choruses presented their 12th
annual “Autumn Masterworks Concert” to a full audience on Sunday,
November 23. This was a joint concert in which all three choruses
shared in Christian fellowship. The Junior SPMC conducted by
Kara Pekar presented four songs, which included student percussionists
and instrumentalists. They sang
I Will Clap My Hands by Joseph Martin,
I Was Glad by Ruth Elaine Schram ,
Praise, Rejoice and Sing and
One Single Light by Dave and Jean Perry. Percussionists
were Dan Knowlton of St. Paul’s and Beth Loudin of Trinity UMC.
Amanda Pekar played violin and Mary Rose Cumbee played the piano.
Anne Knowlton was piano accompanist.
The Youth
SPMC, directed by Jeannine Richardson and accompanied by pianist
Anne Knowlton sang four standard sacred choral anthems including Peter
Lutkin’s The Lord Bless You and Keep You, and the original
version of How Lovely are the Messengers from Felix Mendelssohn’s
oratorio St. Paul. They were really swinging with Robert
Norman’s rock arrangement of Rock-a My Soul and James Clemens’
Psalm of Praise, which featured the tambourine and conga drum.
Percussionists were Dan Knowlton and Marlaina Getz of St. Paul’s and
Beth Loudin of Trinity UMC. The children’s choruses then combined
forces for Natalie Sleeth’s Gaudeamus Hodie (Let Us Rejoice
Today) sung in calypso style with piano; conga drum, maracas, claves;
and Dan Knowlton on his marimba!
The Adult
SPMC, conducted by Jeannine Richardson, performed
Christmas Cantata by Arcangelo Corelli and Richard Shephard.
This concerto, written around 1690 and published posthumously, was scored
for an ensemble of two concertino violins and cello, with ripieno strings
and continuo. In 2004 the English composer Richard Shephard published
choral parts and recitatives to be sung to this music.
The Adult SPMC sang from this recent edition. Joan Gurniak
was the guest organist. A professional string trio consisting
of Lee Brewster and Robyn Bauer on the violin and Alyssa Moquin on the
cello accompanied the chorus. The chorus sounded full and resonant.
Soloists Thomas Kuker, Kara Pekar and Jennifer Gaston-Smith magnificently
narrated the Christmas story in song, and the stringed instruments really
rang out in our sanctuary!
The program
concluded with David Schwoebel’s beautiful
Put Peace Into Each Other’s Hands, sung to the familiar hymn-tune
St. Columbia. The choristers’ voices were beautified
with several organ, violin and cello solo passages.
Needs of the Music Program are:
Adequate funding for new music for our choirs
Adequate
funding for routine piano and organ maintenance
Acknowledgements of Thanks:
On behalf
of all our choirs I would also like to extend thanks to the dedicated
musicians in our choirs, our Music treasurer Steve Malyevac, The Rev.
James B. May, the Vestry, and the Congregation of St. Paul’s for their
support of the Music Program. And, thanks to everyone who has
given so generously to the Music Fund. Your loving support is
always appreciated.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannine M. H. Richardson