End of Programmatic Year
This week, the music ministry finished the 2024-2025 programmatic year. It has been a year of wonderful music. Highlights included the Carolina Treble Festival held in February, the Rutter Requiem performed on All Saints’ Day, the Vivaldi Magnificat offered on Christmas Eve, and the St. Mark Passion performed as a Lenten devotion in April.
The Bach’s Lunch Recital Series promoted musical outreach with concerts by John Hatcher and the Bach’s Lunch Quartet, the New Horizons Band, Camellia Camerata, Logan Duke, the 4HANDS Piano Duo, and my favorite musician, violinist Amanda Ferguson. In addition, the Emmanuel Choir, choristers, and clergy offered three services of Choral Evensong.
This past year three newly commissioned sacred works came to completion. The first work was a set of variations for organ on the hymn tune, Abide With Me, by French Canadian composer Denis Bédard, premiered at the Treble Festival Evensong in February. The second was a new choral commission by Bob Chilcott, currently the leading composer of English sacred choral music. That work, set to the Samuel Crossman text, My Song is Love Unknown, was a gift of John and Carolyn Hatcher in honor of their 60th wedding anniversary and in memory of their son, Jay. The anthem had its world-premiere at Choral Evensong on May 18th and will be published later this year by Oxford University Press, the most prestigious sacred music publishing house in the world. Third, a new piece for handbells and violin was commissioned in honor of the 40th anniversary of our handbell ensemble, the Red Door Ringers. The new work, a setting of the hymn tune Dix (For the Beauty of the Earth), was composed by Sandra Eithun, one of the most respected and prolific composers of handbell music. That new work will be premiered this fall in connection with the arrival of the lower 5th octave of new handbells, which the parish was able to purchase in December. Those large bells are currently being cast at the Malmark foundry in Plumsteadville, PA. Those new bells will allow us to offer music beyond what we have been able to do regularly in the past. On special occasion we have borrowed those low bells from Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church (as we did this spring). Most handbell repertoire calls for the use of those lower bells, so to have them available at every rehearsal and performance will be transformative.
As my 15th season at Emmanuel comes to a close, the musical ensembles have finished their work this month. Last Sunday, the Emmanuel Choir and Choirsters concluded the year with their beautiful offering of Choral Evensong. On Thursday the Red Door Ringers completed the year with a handbell polishing party and then dinner at Maguro’s Hibachi Steakhouse. It has been thrilling to see the growth and development of our handbell choir, particularly in connection with the skills and music learned in our February handbell retreats at Lutheridge. Those weekend intensives have strengthened our handbell ensemble, allowing them to offer music at a level of excellence, and providing time for spiritual renewal and formation with ringers from the Southeast. The Cherubs finished their year on Mother’s Day. I am so pleased by the work that our youngest singers have done this year. Several of our Cherub Choir members participated in the Treble Festival and all learned music that is normally reserved for more advanced singers. They did amazingly well, and I am so proud of their flexibility in offering children’s music and serious choral repertoire.
All of this work is only possible through the gifts and time of our many volunteers associated with the music ministry of this parish. Without them, none of this would be possible. To each singer and ringer, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
All of this work is only possible through the gifts of support, financially and otherwise, that is so freely offered by our parishioners and friends. Your gifts made to the parish and those given specifically to the music ministry, allow this work to take place. Not only does the music of the church function as offerings of praise and thanksgiving to God, but the music of the church functions to call us into community. For that, I am eternally thankful and it is a joy to be a small part of that work. Again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
This Sunday, the Emmanuel Choir and Choristers will begin their summer session. Regular Wednesday rehearsals have been suspended until the fall, but this Sunday, and those through June 22nd, are an opportunity for all who want to participate in the choir to do so. If you are interested, come to the choir loft at 9 A.M. on Sunday morning. We will prepare our anthem(s) and Psalm and then lead the service music at the 10 A.M. Eucharist. All are welcome.
From June 29th and through the months of July and August, the choirs will take a summer break. Guest musicians will be featured in the summer months and our parish volunteers will have an opportunity for rest and renewal.
Please note that the choirs of our parish are always open to new members. If you have been thinking about joining one of our choirs, please let me know. Each is a special community of loving people, dedicated to service. Each is a family, supporting and loving one another. I hope you’ll consider joining us.
Last Sunday, I published a photograph of my family working on the driveway at my house. I may have irritated my lovely wife in doing that, so please find attached a photograph of me working on my most recent home project. Amanda will be working at the hospital all three days of the holiday weekend and I will be home tackling this mountain of mulch.
I hope that you have a beautiful weekend. This Sunday we will sing several patriotic hymns in honor of Memorial Day. As we sing the hymn, “O beautiful for spacious skies,” I hope you’ll give pause as we sing the second verse. Here is the text for your reflection: “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”
Dr. Homer A. Ferguson III
Organist/Choirmaster