Gloria

If you missed the offertory solo from last Sunday, take a listen to the marvelous duet from St. Michael’s Singers soprano Beth Ilem and Choir Director Brian Fairbanks on flute as they present Craig Courtney’s “Be not afraid,” set to Isaiah 43:1-4. 

One melodic composer you’ll hear on Sunday during the offertory is Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847). Fanny was the older sister of fellow composer Felix Mendelssohn. She is finally starting to get the recognition she deserves as a monumental composer of over 400 pieces, particularly for voice and piano, matching the genius of her more famous brother.

In celebration of the 4th of July weekend, enjoy again this clip of St. Michael’s Music Director/Organist Hannah Brewer playing an arrangement of the classic patriotic tunes “O beautiful for spacious skies” and “America,” recorded last year. This coming Sunday, July 4, at the 9:00 am service, we’ll sing the moving Finlandia hymn This is my song for our national holiday, which calls for unity, peace and an appreciation for all nations: “My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine./ But other lands have sunlight too, and clover, and skies are ev’rywhere as blue as mine.”

The prelude and postlude for Sunday, June 20, are offered in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. The prelude, which you can hear a creative arrangement of here, is by Florence Price (1887-1953), the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer. She was a pianist, organist and teacher as well. Trained in the European tradition, her compositional style nevertheless reflects her Southern roots.