THE WEDNESDAY REPORT: August 17, 2022

Dear Partners in Ministry,

Why yes, we are talking about Advent in the middle of August. But before we do, a note from the composer world: Last weekend, we learned of the passing of Dr. James E. Moore Jr., whose name you might recognize from his beloved 1983 setting of "Taste and See" (#338 in the original blue Gather hymnals many of you still have). You've sung some of his choral work too, like his arrangement of "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel." Dr. Moore was a fellow Ohioan, having served as Director of Music at St. Agnes Parish in Cincinnati, Ohio, and as Assistant Professor of Music and Liturgy at the Athenaeum of Ohio Theological Seminary. He later moved to Vienna, Austria, enjoying a decades-long career as a renowned conductor, pianist, teacher, and voice coach. He was in Vienna long before I got my start, so I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but his influence and writing have definitely been a part of my story as a minister.

May the choirs of heaven welcome their newest member; please keep him and his loved ones in your prayer.

GAUDETE

I'm happy to announce to you that we have our repertoire set for the Gaudete! concert on December 11. This concert will feature you as Parish Choir, along with Bell Choir, instrumentalists, and the whole audience as we sing choral and congregational music in a journey from Advent to Christmastide.

You'll find most of these scores waiting for you in the folder cart tomorrow night so that you can get a head start on them before we dive in together in September. Where possible, I've also included YouTube links to help, and I intend to produce rehearsal tracks for our more challenging pieces.

Starting Off: The Title Cut

We'll begin with one of my favorites: Bob Batastini's fantastic setting of the Renaissance-era carol, Gaudete. Bells and hand percussion will punctuate this dancing, lively setting, and I hope to have pockets of us actually sing this from the pews to create a "surround-sound" presentation of this piece. I couldn't find a well-performed video, but there's an audio sample from Richard Proulx's Cathedral Singers here (scroll down to Track 22).

From here, there will be four parts to the concert, each featuring a piece from us, Bell Choir, and a sing-along piece for all.

Part I: Take Comfort

We'll start this section with Steven C. Warner's "Take Comfort, My People," which weaves "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" with his original tune of hope in the Advent season.

Sing-along: Comfort, Comfort, O My People (JS 295)

Part II: Live in Hope

Next up for you is a gem from the library, Rory Cooney's charming arrangement of "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day."

Sing-along: People, Look East (JS 297) (but faster and with adults)

Part III: Live as Hope

This section transitions from receiving the hope of Advent to sharing it with the world. Our piece here will be Kevin Memley's haunting "O Nata Lux, Light Born of Light." Soprano I's, warm up those B-flats!

Sing-along: Child of the Poor/What Child Is This (octavo; JS 331)

Part IV: Rejoice!

Our final section brings us at last to the joy of the Nativity. We'll join forces with Bells, instrumentalists, and our audience to enjoy Howard Helvey's setting of "The Snow Lay on the Ground," then conclude the concert with a big and bold rendition of "Joy to the World (JS 303).