“The music ministry of Emmanuel Episcopal Church has a long and multi-faceted history…”
The music ministry of Emmanuel Episcopal Church has a long a multi-faceted history. From our pioneer days of the late 19th century when hymns, anthems, and even arias were accompanied by a Clough and Warren reed organ to our current era of Bach’s Lunch programming, All Saints’ Day Requiems, Advent Lessons and Carols, Lenten Passions, and festive liturgies with strings and instrumentalists, music has always been an important and valued part of our identity.
Each musician charged with the leadership of the music of the church has brought new ideas and gifts to the rich tapestry that is the musical voice of our parish. Upon my arrival in 2010, our parish began commissioning new music as part of our mission. Commissioning new music for the church is done for a variety of reasons. Oftentimes, commissions are opportunities to commemorate or celebrate an important event, person, or anniversary. Sometimes new music is commissioned to serve the specific purposes of a parish. Regardless of the origin or inspiration, the commissioning of new music creates an opportunity for a community to broaden its ministerial reach beyond the confines of the physical walls of the buildings that the parish occupies. More importantly though, it creates an opportunity for a new musical expression such that we might better know and understand God.
The first commission that I guided was in 2011. Following the announcement that our associate rector Meaghan Kelly would be leaving our parish, I reached out to the choir about commissioning a new choral anthem in celebration and in thanksgiving for her ministry. Funded with gifts collected from the choir, I commissioned a young composer named Samuel Hunter to compose a new piece. I had met Sam at the June 2011 conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians. We selected a text by J. Phillip Newell, and the anthem, “Child of the Dawn” was born.
Samuel wrote the following about the new work:
I was commissioned by Dr. Homer Ferguson III of Southern Pines, NC, to write this piece shortly before embarking on a trip to Ireland and Scotland. Commissioned as the farewell anthem for a young minster leaving for new horizons, I wanted the piece to have energy and joy, a sentiment that fit perfectly with my new-found obsession with Irish and Scottish traditional music upon returning from my trip. The time signature, modal harmony, and dance rhythms all lend the piece an unending drive from beginning to climax, with a calm conclusion as a reminder of the humility that underlies the youthful exuberance present throughout.
The anthem was premiered on September 4, 2011, for Rev. Meaghan’s last Sunday. Here is a link to that moment, now some 15 years ago: https://youtu.be/rrnlpUBGSaw?si=i-BlgbEskrDvbvaj
Our next commission was in 2012, a handbell piece commissioned in memory of Tucky Thompson. Tucky had been deeply involved with the music ministry of the parish during the tenure of Alan Reed, and for a period served as the headmistress of The Episcopal Day School. Tucky was also an advocate, lover, and ringer of handbells. In addition to ringing in the parish handbell choir, she formed a handbell quartet which performed at Washington National Cathedral and at Bruton Parish, Williamsburg.
With gifts received to the music ministry of the church in memory of Tucky, I commissioned composer Michael Mazzatenta to write an original work. Michael created an exciting new piece titled, “Celebrate With Ringing.” In contrast to the choral work by Samual Hunter, which has generally only had a life within this parish, Mazzatenta’s work became one of the top ten selling handbell works of the year. The piece went all over the world and there are many recordings of it on YouTube. My personal favorite is one from the 16th International Handbell Symposium in Jeju, Korea, recorded live on August 9, 2014. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/bwIA2fTtkfY?si=kt1K9S8d049m1LUU
Since that time, our parish has commissioned new works by the leading composers of sacred music, including Philip Stopford, Bob Chilcott, Graham Farrell, Daniel Gawthrop, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Margaret Sandresky, Denis Bédard, and Sandra Eithun. Through the commissioning of new sacred musical art, our parish has extended its ministerial outreach to the entire globe. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions by now, have been touched, experienced, or worshipped through music that has its roots at Emmanuel.
As an example, the Preces and Responses by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, commissioned in 2010 in celebration of my 10th anniversary of ministry at Emmanuel, has been performed in every major cathedral in the U.K. and the United States, not to mention hundreds of parishes. It is often heard as part of Evensong broadcasts on BBC3, and in 2023, this set of sung prayers was recorded on Hyperion Records.
At our May 2026 Choral Evensong, the Emmanuel Choir premiered a new set of canticles for use during Evening Prayer, the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, by esteemed Australian composer June Nixon. I had reached out to her in 2024 as a potential composer for a new commission in celebration of a wedding anniversary for retired choir members John and Carolyn Hatcher. June’s husband had recently passed away, and she expressed that she simply didn’t have the spirit to compose at that time. The eventual result was a new work, published by Oxford University Press, by Bob Chilcott on the beautiful text, My Song Is Love Unknown.
Fast forward to January of this year, when I received a note from June. She was back to her compositional desk and having remembered our exchange of emails from a few years prior, reached out to me to see if I might be interested in a new set of canticles for Evensong. My response was an enthusiastic yes, and the result was the premiere of her new canticles, now published by Encore Publications.
A recording of the premiere of new her Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis offered by our choir is available here:
https://youtu.be/kadAO9FHNo4?si=h6yzfJysZeKw8efY
The sharing of music, and particularly the creation of new music, are some of the most revered and valued forms of human expression. Music allows us to better understand ourselves, to better understand others, to form community, and to better understand God. Commissioning music is living out the missional Gospel call to share the good news of Jesus Christ as witnesses and serves as invitations for people to know God and to experience the beauty of holiness. For our dedicated volunteer musicians and parishioners, it is an opportunity to contribute and participate in the creation of something new, adding to an ever expanding and vast repertoire of praise.
On a personal note, I am incredibly humbled and thankful for the opportunities that have presented themselves to allow for the creation of these new works. With the faith and trust placed in me by the people of this parish, these new expressions of love and faith, have been allowed to form and flourish. Soli Deo Gloria!