September is starting off with a bang! St. Paul’s Parish Choir will present an all-Purcell Evensong on Sunday September 30 at 6 pm in the Old Narragansett Church in celebration of the 300th Anniversary of St. Paul’s. Immediately following Evensong, Quince, a 5-part period- piece string band, will play a short program of 17th-century music. This will be followed by a reception catered by our fantastic hospitality team.

“Quince is a brand-new 5-part string band (the predecessor of the modern string quartet) devoted to the delightful and varied repertory written for 5 string players, usually including 3 violas, for a particularly rich and moving sound.”

Dana Maiben, Music Director of Foundling Baroque Orchestra, will play violin, along with Andrew Fouts of California, who will also play viola. Also on viola will be Martha Perry of Indianapolis and Peter Bucknell of New York City. Margaret Cushing, Artistic Director of Foundling, will play cello. Mark Steinbach, organist of St. Paul’s, will play the church’s rare English chamber organ, built in the 1640’s and attributed to the legendary British organ builder Bernard ("Father") Smith, who built the original organ in London's St. Paul Cathedral. Legend has it that Purcell himself has played the organ.

Quince is honored to participate in the celebration of St. Paul’s 300th anniversary with a program of music that was new at the same time that St. Paul’s was new.

Choirs begin again in September: we would love to have you participate!

Parish choir rehearses Thursday evenings from 7:30-9:30 and sings weekly at the 10:30 service, plus special services and evensongs. (and once a month at the 8:30 service). This choir sings everything from Bach to Palestrina to spirituals. It is helpful to read music for this group. We also sing expressions of the faith in various languages.

The “Choir at 8” only rehearses on Sundays at 8 and sings at the 8:30 service. It is not necessary to read music for this group. We learn breathing techniques and how to project our voices.

We are staring something new for the youth. We will be offering youth choir during the “church school” hour on Sundays as an option. See the bulletins and announcements in September for specific age groups. If you would like to help out with these groups, please let me or Rozanne Fuller know. She will be coordinating this ministry of joyful noise. We are intending to follow the curriculum of The Royal School of Church Music which infuses Christian formation with music education. This has been a very successful program in parishes which have used it, so we are particularly excited about it!

We shared some wonderful worship experiences in the Old Narraganssett Church this summer thanks to some of our very own talented musicians, including Pat Petersen, Gabi Scheff, Ro-zanne Fuller, and Joe and Bonnie Smith. Thank you for sharing your talents!

I had the pleasure of playing two concerts in Italy this summer - one on an 1835 instrument in a charming little church north of Lago Maggiore and the other at the Musica Antiqua festival of Bolzano, which is in the lovely Dolomite mountain region.