17 Director of Music Ministries Report

Mu s i c M i n i s t r i e s R e p o r t

Trinity Church has a long history of outstanding music, but what is seen and heard during worship on Sundays is just the tip of the iceberg. During the week, many church members of all ages give of their time and talent to come together to rehearse, fellowship, and care for each other and the total ministry of the church. Until September of this year, most of this work was on hiatus as the pandemic dominated our lives and required most of our activities to be suspended. Thanks to our dedicated adult choir section leaders, who diligently met to record anthems, hymns, solos and service music, we maintained a high standard of music for our online services and provided meaningful online worship experiences for our members and many online viewers who tuned in each week. As most of you know, I became organist of Trinity Church on August 1, 2020. In January of 2021 I became Interim Director of Music Ministries and Organist and in April I assumed that role permanently. My heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who has helped make my time here a success - my fellow staff members, the Rector, choir section leaders, volunteer choir members, and many others who have provided tips, words of wisdom, and other assistance thus far. Throughout this time, our goal was to maintain an excellent music staff to provide music for our online and in person services in the

Bishop’s Garden, and to be prepared for the eventual return to having rehearsals of the full choir again. As of September 16, we resumed rehearsals of the full choir with some changes in personnel. We sadly said “so long” to our wonderful soprano and alto section leaders, Sarah Kitts and Hannah Glass, respectively, who served us so well for many years. Our music intern, Ryan Davis, graduated from SU with his master’s degree in Choral Conducting and left us to take a teaching position in Lynchburg, VA last fall. Julian Baldwin and Michael Forest returned to the choir, and we welcomed a wonderful and talented new music intern and assistant director, Drew Young. We also welcomed Jennifer Gordon, soprano; Dina Spyropoulos, soprano/alto; Anna Balchunas, alto; and Noah Wagar, baritone to our ranks. Drew, Dina, and Noah are graduate students in the choral conducting program at SU. Jennifer is a graduate student in arts management, and Anna is a senior music education major. I am especially grateful to the volunteer singers who returned to the choir when rehearsals resumed, after a rather stressful year leading up to September. Thanks to their dedication and the enthusiasm of Drew Young, we were able to present a wellreceived program of choral music by Moravian composers on November 21 to a very respectable audience. The program was followed by a service of Evensong

“Throughout this time, our goal was to maintain an excellent music staff to provide music for our online and in person services in the Bishop’s Garden”

Mu s i c M i n i s t r i e s R e p o r t

(sung Evening Prayer) and a reception with traditional Moravian cookies and cakes. Fourteen singers participated in that program, and thirteen singers sang for the 8:00 pm service on Christmas Eve, for which we were fortunate to have a string quartet as well. There is still room in the choir for you! We were blessed with the talents of numerous guest musicians who enriched our worship services last year. The Commonwealth Brass Quintet joined us for Easter and for Confirmation on September 18. In the summer months, we were graced with music by Brad Tatum, french horn; Steve Temme, saxophone; John Romano, clarinet; our faithful parishioner and talented violinist Marjory Serrano-Coyer; and Alan Saucedo, cello. Briggs Williamson sang for us too. And in December we welcomed the Blue Ridge Singers, who treated us to a wonderful program of holiday music, and the Master Singers of Virginia, who brought their Service of Lessons and Carols back to Trinity after a brief pause. As stated earlier, it takes a number of people to make a church music program successful, and many people contribute in ways that are not easily visible to the outside world. Jason Kolowski, for instance, made beautiful wooden name plates for each choir member to identify their lockers in the robing area. Kat Gemmer and Gray Coyner were a huge help in getting the word out to the

greater community for our special programs. In September, we held a get acquainted/welcome back dinner for the choir in Cox Hall prior to our first rehearsal, and in December Susan Jones hosted a wonderful holiday gathering, complete with rehearsal, at her beautiful home.

As we move through what looks to be another unusual and unpredictable year, our Music Ministry is committed to maintaining the highest standards both musically, theologically, and pastorally as we continue to live into our mission statement. We are committed to reestablishing our handbell choir in 2022, and hopefully music for children too. There will be some wonderful musical programs coming up, and we will continue to work toward completion of the organ project to get our magnificent AeolianSkinner into tip-top shape. Thank you for your support and prayer as we moved forward together in praise to Almighty God. “It is our mission to enable and encourage all members of the parish to share in the experience of glorifying God through music; to teach together the skills of music and the practices of faith; and to build the body of Christ through worship, rehearsal, outreach, and fellowship, using music as an instrument of God’s peace.”

“As we move through what looks to be another unusual and unpredictable year, our Music Ministry is committed to maintaining the highest standards both musically, theologically, and pastorally as we continue to live into our mission statement.”