This Sunday is the last Sunday the choir sings before its summer break.  We will sing two anthems, the first being “Lord, Here Am I,” by the Minnesota-based composer Stephen Paulus (1949-2014).  The piece sets a poem by Herbert Brokering (1926-2009), a Lutheran pastor, poet, and hymn writer.  The second anthem is a setting by Alan Bullard of “The Peace of God,” a traditional Hebridean blessing.

This Sunday is Pentecost, and a small group from the choir will sing the anthem, “O Breath of life,” by the British composer Alan Bullard, incorporating a traditional English folk tune.  The organ music this Sunday is by Maurice Duruflé, from his “Prelude, Adagio, et Choral varié sur le thème du Veni Creator.”  Duruflé was a French organist, composer, and perfectionist who was famously critical of his own compositions.  He published very little, and continued to revise pieces even after they had appeared in print.

This week the adult choir sings two anthems.  The first, Cantate Domino, by the Italian baroque composer Giuseppe Pitoni, is a setting of the first verses of Psalm 98.  The second is a choral arrangement of the song, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,” which was originally written by Fr. Peter Scholtes in the 1960s.  The choir will sing an arrangement by our own Daniel Grotz, who has sung with the choir throughout his time as a student at UVA.  Now in his fourth year, Daniel will graduate in two weeks with a bachelor’s degree, having majored in both music and English.

This week the choir sings two anthems, the first an arrangement by Richard Shephard of the song “Be still, for the presence of the Lord,” written by David Evans.  Evans is an English church musician and music teacher currently working towards a PhD in music psychology.  Shephard, in addition to composing, serves as Chamberlain of York Minster in England.  The second choral piece this week is “Creation of Peace,” an anthem by Mark Miller, an organist and composer who teaches at Drew Theological School in New Jersey.