Church to host rehearsals for choir festival

St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 10 Delp Road, Lancaster, will host regional rehearsals for the Ocean Grove Choir Festival. A chorus including hundreds of singers will gather in the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, N.J., on Sunday, July 9, for the 69th annual Ocean Grove Choir Festival. This service of praise to God features a variety of choral anthems conducted by guest conductors in an auditorium that seats 6,000 and features a Hope-Jones pipe organ. Congregational hymn singing, music from brass and organ, and choral masterworks are included in the festival. The large chorus is made up of singers from all over the East Coast, as well as those who come from across the country to participate. Anyone is welcome to sing, regardless of church affiliation.

Rehearsals for the festival will be led by Tom and Deborah Berdos, music director and organist at St. Peter’s. Singers from Lancaster County are invited to gather in the St. Peter’s sanctuary for rehearsals from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, June 7, 14, 21, and 28, and Monday, July 3. All singers need to attend the dress rehearsal in Ocean Grove, which will occur from 2 to 5 p.m. on July 9, just before the choir festival that evening. For more information about singing and where to purchase the music, contact Tom Berdos at tom.berdos@st peterslutheran.org. For more information about service times and other events at St. Peter’s, visit www.stpeterslutheran.org or call 717-569-9211.