Music Notes

- by Gordon King

Summer is acumen in, as the medieval song goes, and the choirs are on vacation. Mary Ellen Assue returned from a role in a California production of Porgy and Bess in time for our last two services. Sarah Caldwell Smith, who substituted for Mary Ellen, is singing in the Gilbert and Sullivan production at City Center. In August, Sal Diana, Mary Ellen, Andrew Jones and I will be traveling to Europe for a tour with Schola Cantorum on the Hudson. The choir will perform in Austria and in Prague. On June 1, most of our chorister participated in the annual St. Bartholomew’s Chorister Festival. The singers rehearsed on Saturday and sang for an Evensong Service Sunday afternoon. Several parishioners attended the service. Mia Toledo, Eva Araya, Gaby Araya, Lucy Ellis, Bridget Cary, and Matthew Niederman represented St. John’s in the service.

St. John’s Music Fund

Many thanks to those who have contributed to the St. John’s Music Fund. This fund allows us to hire instruments to accompany the choir on special occasions. It also allows us to add a singer when certain pieces of music call for it. Donations made to the St. John’s Music Fund are welcomed and will help to increase the scope of our music program for extraordinary occasions.

Summer Hymn Sing

Do you have a favorite hymn you would like to sing? Let us know by listing it on the sign-up sheet in the Common Room. We will try to include it in one of our services this summer. Please limit your selection to those hymns found in the 1982 Hymnal (which can be found in the pews).