Listen to Music from St. Stephen’s on WVIA on Sundays at 7:00 am and 4:00 pm, September-June.
For more current events, see our home page.
April
Jazz Eucharist
Join us as we present Vince Guaraldi’s jazz mass in an extraordinary setting. Written six months before his soundtrack for “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the mass is a highly melodic composition — and the first jazz mass ever composed in America.
Musicians include Bill Carter on piano, Mike Carbone on flute, Tyler Dempsey on drums, and Joe Michaels on bass, with the St. Stephen’s choir under the direction of Mark Laubach.
First presented in 1965 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the music was recorded but never written down. It was never performed after Mr. Guaraldi’s death. To mark the 50th anniversary of the event, Bill Carter transcribed the music from original and unreleased recordings, and took part in an anniversary celebration of the mass at Grace Cathedral in 2015.
This is a rare opportunity to hear Guaraldi’s composition in the worship setting where it was first conceived. We are pleased to offer this event during the 200th anniversary year of St. Stephen’s.
Choral Eucharist
Choral Eucharist will be sung by the Choir of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Harleysville, PA, directed by Sue Ellen Echard, Choirmaster, with Canon Mark Laubach, Organist. The Choir is visiting St. Stephen’s in preparation for a week-long residency this coming August at Lincoln Cathedral in England, for which Mark will serve as one of the organists. Music sung will include works by Mozart (movements from the Missa Brevis in G Major, K. 140), Benjamin Britten, and William Byrd.
Choral Evensong
Choral Evensong will be sung by the Choir of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Harleysville, PA, directed by Sue Ellen Echard, Choirmaster, with Canon Mark Laubach, Organist. Music sung will include works by Ola Gjeilo, John Sanders, T. Tertius Noble, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Benjamin Britten.
Wilkes University Chorus and the Wilkes University Chamber Singers will present Music of the Elements at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre. The Wilkes University Choral Ensembles are directed by Dr. Steven Thomas, Director of Choral Activities and Chair of the Division of Performing Arts at Wilkes University.
The free concert begins at 3:00 pm and is open to the public. All the music on the program is connected thematically to one of the four classical elements: air, earth, fire, and water. The pieces range from the Renaissance, with works by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Claudio Monteverdi, and Thomas Morley, to the contemporary, with works by Eleanor Daley, Stephen Chatman, and Morten Lauridsen. Also on the program are two arrangements of popular songs: “Stormy Weather” and “Over the Rainbow.”
The University Chorus is the University’s largest choral ensemble, and is open to any member of the Wilkes community, by audition. Recent repertoire includes Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and a variety of shorter works. The Chamber Singers is the University’s select vocal ensemble, and is open to any student member of the Wilkes University Chorus, by audition. The Chamber Singers typically perform a wide range of a cappella repertoire, from Renaissance to contemporary music.
For more information on this concert, please contact Dr. Steven Thomas at 570-408-4434 or steven.thomas@wilkes.edu.
May
Choral Evensong
Choral Evensong for the Sixth Sunday of Easter will be sung by the St. Stephen’s Choir and led by Canon Mark Laubach, Organist and Choirmaster. A free-will offering will support Music from St. Stephen’s.
The New Trio in Concert
Sponsored by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chamber Music Society (NEPACMS), the New Trio will perform piano trios by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. For more information or to purchase tickets for the
concert, visit www.nepacms.org. Tickets will also be available at the door.
General Admission $20 Student/Senior $10
A Festal Choral Eucharist will be celebrated for the Diocese of Bethlehem to thank, honor, and bid farewell to the Right Reverend Sean Rowe as he completes his ministry as Bishop Provisional for the Diocese. A reception will follow at the Genetti Hotel and Conference Center. In lieu of gifts for Bishop Sean, contributions will be received for the Grace Montessori School in Allentown in the Bishop’s honor. Checks should be made payable to The Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem and sent to the Diocesan Office at 333
Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. To register for the reception, please visit http://www.diobeth.org/event/4016/?instance_id=284.
The Chamber Choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Concert
The St. Tikhon’s Monastery Chamber Choir will give a rare performance of the exquisitely beautiful and deeply spiritual All-Night Vigil, Op. 37, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The performance is part of the festivities of the monastery’s 114th Annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage, and it will be held in the visually rich and acoustically stunning atmosphere of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral located at 35 South Franklin Street, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
St. Tikhon’s Monastery Chamber Choir is made up of some of the finest singers in the New York area and around North America, and its annual Memorial Day weekend concert is fast coming to be recognized as a highlight of the artistic season in the region. Russian Orthodox choral music continues to rise in popularity with concertgoers today. St. Tikhon’s Chamber Choir offers a unique perspective on the genre through its connection with the spiritual life of St. Tikhon’s Monastery and the 1000-year-old unbroken tradition of Russian Orthodox liturgical worship.
To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.monasterychamberchoir.com or call 1(888)454-6678. Tickets will also be available at the door.
July
JULY 23-29, 2018 Royal School of Church Music
The largest of its kind in North America, King’s College Course regularly attracts more than one hundred and fifty singers, ages ten and up, from across the United States and internationally. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral and King’s College of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, are the hosing sites of this summer training course sponsored by the Royal School of Church Music in America.
Both choristers and adults enjoy a week of music-making, fun, prayer and fellowship in beautiful Wyoming Valley. Nestled in the Appalachian mountains, Wilkes-Barre is an historic city on the east side of the Susquehanna River. King’s College is within walking distance of downtown shopping, movies, riverfront parks, and historic churches.
Guest Director for 2018 is John Robinson who is the Director of Music at St. Paul’s Choir School, in Harvard Square, MA. There, he trains and directs the boy Choristers of St. Paul’s Choir School in church services, concerts, and recordings. The boys of the Choir have recently collaborated with well-known ensembles, including the Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston POPs, Vienna Boys’ Choir and numerous visiting choirs from around the world.
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