Holy Week challenges, consoles, and uplifts us with exquisite music and hymns. This Maundy Thursday we hear several musical versions of the classic “Ubi caritas” text. On Good Friday the Passion is chanted in English at noon, and the congregation will sing several beloved hymns and hear two moving anthems from the St. Michael’s Singers. That evening, El Coro and the Saints & Singers support the singing in between each Station and during the Veneration of the Cross in our bilingual Good Friday service. On Saturday’s Easter Vigil, we journey from darkness into light with a huge variety of musical expressions from chanting, gospel hymns, a traditional American folk anthem, Resucitó (sung bilingually), and, of course, plenty of “Alleluia”s!

Finally, Easter Day our favorite Portland Brass Quintet is back again to help us exalt and celebrate Christ’s resurrection! Their yearly visit is a thrilling way to get into the true spirit of the holiday, and we thank all five brass musicians for joining us at St. Michael’s. The chancel will explode with sound during our main anthem, C.V. Stanford’s “Ye choirs of new Jerusalem,” which focuses on Jesus’ triumphant victory over death. While we pull out all the stops on our pipe organ, unmute the brass, and bellow from the choir stalls, it’s up to YOU to decide who blasts the loudest on Easter Day!