Choral evening services planned

Tue Feb 2 2010

The Sacred Music Program of Lenoir-Rhyne University will sponsor two choral evening prayer services this spring.

Both services will feature guest performers as well as choral ensembles of the university. The programs will be free and open to the public, although an offering will be taken to help defray expenses.

The first service will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7 at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Hickory. The program will be “Great Vespers in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition,” featuring the Carolina Deanery Choir of the Orthodox Church in America, Bill Wamboldt, director, and the Chapel Choir of Lenoir-Rhyne University, Paul D. Weber, director.

The Rev. Christopher Foley of Holy Cross Orthodox Church in High Point will preside at vespers, and the Rev. Marcus Burch of St. John of the Ladder Orthodox Church in Greenville, S.C., will introduce a short concert of other Orthodox hymns from the Lenten and Easter season at the conclusion of vespers. An explanation of the liturgy will precede the service.

The second service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 6, at Northminster Presbyterian Church, Hickory. The Sacred Music Program and Northminster Presbyterian Church, Hickory, will sponsor Evening Prayer with John Bell and the A Cappella Choir of Lenoir-Rhyne University, Paul D. Weber, director.

This service will be the culmination of an all-day workshop with Bell on “Singing the Psalms” and “Teaching Congregational Song.” Visiting church musician-in-residence John Bell is a native of Scotland. He is a hymn writer, song arranger, and author whose books reflect his passion for congregational song.

His impact on the church and its music has been global. He has been honored by the Royal School of Church Music, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and the University of Glasgow. For further information on any of these events, please call (828) 328-7149.

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