Music and Choirs at Westminster
Find the Latest News and Updates about the choirs at Westminster.
The Adult Choir rehearses on Thursdays from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. and sings at the 11:00 service most Sundays from September through May. The choir’s repertoire includes of some of the best choral music from many different time periods and in a wide range of styles, from the Renaissance to newly commissioned pieces from contemporary composers. Twice a year, the choir is joined by an ensemble of talented instrumentalists to present a larger-scale choral work during the Sunday morning services. Recent musical offerings have included the Vivaldi Gloria, Bach’s Jesu meine Freude, a Mozart missa brevis, Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, and the Missa Luba. Members of the choir are diverse in backgrounds and ages, and fellowship is an important part of the choir’s activities.
The Singers is a choir of youth (5th grade and up) and adults. They meet after the 11:00 Sunday service for a snack and rehearsal from 12:15-1:15 pm. They sing approximately once a month from September through May and participate in the service of Lessons and Carols during Advent.
The Choristers is an exuberant group of children from Kindergarten through 4th grade. Choristers enjoy a time of fellowship and games before their rehearsal at 4:00 on Thursday afternoons. During rehearsal they learn how to be leaders in the worship service while improving their vocal and musical skills through games, playing instruments, and songs. The Choristers often play percussion and Orff instruments in addition to singing. They sing in the 11:00 service several times during the year and also participate in the service of Lessons and Carols.
Anthem Commissions
As part of Westminster’s commitment to support high-quality sacred choral music, the music committee has commissioned a number of new works from prominent composers, including Alice Parker, Russell Schulz-Widmar, and, most recently, Bob Chilcott. Chilcott, an English composer who sang with the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, both as a boy and as a university student, and was a member of the King’s Singers for twelve years, agreed to write an anthem especially for Westminster which was completed and premiered in the fall of 2015. The anthem, “Christ has no body but yours,” will be published by Oxford University Press.
Musicals at Westminster
Every other year Westminster members join together to produce an Intergenerational Musical. The musicals are offered in worship with staging, scenery, costumes, instrumentalists, singers and dancers. Past performances include Jonah’s Tale of a Whale, Made in the Image and Table for Five…Thousand! In preparing for each musical, people of all ages gather to create the scenery, learn music and lines, make props and costumes and enjoy fellowship at meals.
Contact the Director of Fine Arts, Megan Sharp, with questions or for more information!
Westminster Organ Concert Series
The Westminster Organ Concert Series was established in 1980 to share with the community the resources of the Taylor & Boody tracker-action pipe organ. The series aims to offer a variety of concerts featuring the organ both as a solo instrument and in combination with other instruments and singers. The annual Children’s Halloween Concert provides a fun introduction to the organ for young people.
Consistent with Westminster’s commitment to community service, the concerts are open to the public at no charge; however, donations, all of which are used solely to help to defray the costs of presenting the series, are most welcome. The church is wheelchair-accessible, and ample parking is available behind the church in the 17th Street parking lot..
For more information, please visit the series website: WestminsterOrganConcertSeries