Music for February and March - Two Great Concerts

St. Paul’s Music Ministry is in Lenten gear. Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday in Lent introduced new music, different liturgical practices and an intentional act of making music that helps you to keep a Holy Lent.

For example, The First Sunday in Lent had a remarkable opening as we sang The Great Litany with choir and cantors in procession concluding with the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy). Other changes we that will continue in Lenten worship included the intonation and congregational responses in the Sursam Corda leading to the sung preface to the Eucharistic Prayer. Later we sang the Agnus Dei as the fraction anthem leading to the distribution of Communion. Throughout Lent, our Psalms will be sung Plainsong setting.

Preludes and anthems are a Lenten feast of great music. On that same Sunday, organ preludes and the offertory anthem captured the mood of Lent. The preludes were two settings of O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid, a German chorale of significant pathos. Canadian Anglican musician, Healey Willan’s setting takes us to the organ loft in Toronto’s St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church where he composed and served for so many years. Johannes Brahms’s setting has all the warmth and yearning that you would expect of such a master composer. Pathos in Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s stirring anthem, “Wash me throughly (from my sins)” yielded aching dissonance of melodic leaps an unresolved searching harmonies. S. S. Wesley, the 19th c. Henry Purcell, is a favorite of mine. All this lovely music is beloved by church musicians for its value and solemnity. More importantly, all this lovely music is our invitation for you to observe a Holy Lent.

Our Friends of Music Concert Series in February and March

On Sunday February 21, we will have a guest organ artist with us in worship at 10:45 am and in recital later that afternoon at 4:00 pm. Dr. Justin Bischof from New York City is an organ and piano recitalist, conductor, composer, and on the faculty of Manhattan School of music. His work takes him across the country and overseas. Justin will come to Pittsburgh from the Sultanate of Oman where he conducted the Sultan’s Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra. His residency at St. Paul’s begins Saturday, February 20 with a master class on organ improvisation and concludes Monday, February 22 with a presentation on improvisation for a meeting of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

His February 21 afternoon recital will be all improvisation homage. That is, given musical themes from the audience, he will improvise in the style of given composers and their stylistic periods. You are welcome to attend these sessions and you will not want to miss his splendid recital. A reception will follow.

On Sunday March 13 at 4:00 pm, the Washington and Jefferson College Jazz Ensemble presents an afternoon of jazz classics.The W&J Jazz Ensemble is an elite group of student musicians that performs frequently at events on campus, in formal concerts at Olin Fine Arts Center, and at jazz festivals and community events. Led by director and assistant professor Kyle Simpson, the group of 14 to 18 students plays all styles of jazz including Latin, rock, funk, and swing, and collaborate often with W&J faculty and prominent guest vocalists and musicians from Pittsburgh and New York City.

A Suggested Donation: $10