Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival

One of the greatest joys of living in a city is the quantity and variety of good music (and the arts in general).  Coming up soon is an incredible event right in Bethany's backyard - the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival.  The highlight of this year's event is the performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor on Saturday, April 16th.  But there is a wide range of performances, including some free recitals and concerts.  You should definitely visit the website and see if you can find a concert that fits your schedule!

Concordia Choir

If you missed the St. Olaf Choir when they passed through Cleveland, you have a chance at a decent consolation prize when the Concorida Choir comes to Akron in a week.  (Just kidding about the "consolation prize," but there's nothing wrong with a little inter-school rivalry, right?)

The concert will be at St. Bernard-St. Mary in Akron on Friday, Feb. 25th.  Tickets are $15 - 20.  The program ranges from Bach and Mozart to spirituals to contemporary compositions.  It promises to be a night of beautiful music.  For basically the cost of a movie, you could instead enjoy an evening of inspiring melodies.

A moment to rant

Saturday's edition of the Akron Beacon Journal included an article (reprinted from the Cleveland Plain Dealer) that fired me up as I read it, and it still nags at me today.  It was the sad story of the planned closing of Broadway United Methodist Church in Slavic Village.  The 92-year-old church will be closing after Christmas.  In some ways, that is just one more anecdote of the challenges facing the greater Cleveland area.  Of course, church closings have become all too common around us, and they are always a tragedy.

However, what got me worked up were the quotes that implied the closing was inevitable or part of a natural cycle.  Why has this defeatist attitude been allowed to flourish in recent years?  Where would we be if past generations had seen shrinking congregations as a normal part of a cycle?  The beautiful churches of Cleveland were built in expectation of a perpetual congregation, and the church as a whole has flourished for over 2,000 years!  Why are so many leaders (clergy and laity) willing to accept defeat?

I realize that we face economic problems and that the city population has diminished significantly from its peak.  But there are still plenty of people here, and the church can play an important role in rebuilding.  We cannot simply convene for one hour on Sundays and ignore our broader responsibility to the congregation and community.  Because of that belief, I found the more hopeful quote from the article to be the comment that change is necessary.  As we see congregations and budgets shrink, as churches around us close, rather than wait for our own demise, let's seek out the lessons and opportunities to grow.  So how can we adapt and grow at this time?  How does the church stay relevant to the community?  I have my own broad set of ideas and answers - and music is part of them, of course.  I'm sure many of my readers have their own ideas too.

Maybe a first, small step is to volunteer in our own church, to attend the upcoming Vespers service, and even to invite a friend or neighbor to come along.  Advent is a season of hope, not fatalism, so let's all do what we can to create a bright future for our church.

Mark your calendars now

The Worship and Music Committee has decided to schedule an Advent Vespers service for the evening of December 12th at 7:00 PM.  We're still hard at work hammering out details, but it will be a night of meditation and prayer, candlelight and beautiful music.  It will mark the return of the bell choir and feature not just the Chancel Choir but a number of soloists and small groups.

It will be a worship service, not a concert, but it will be different from Sunday morning worship.  We will be focused on the symbols of darkness and light, waiting and preparing - all themes of Advent.  I'll be writing more about some of the specific music soon, but I hope you mark your calendar and spread the word.  It should be a beautiful service, and it would be fantastic to share it with a full church!

Congrats and Thanks!

Last night's concert was a big success for the choir. I think I speak for everyone involved when I say we were pleased to see so many people in attendance, especially on a beautiful holiday weekend, and we appreciate the applause and kind comments.

I also want to add my personal thanks and admiration for the hard work and talent of everyone involved. Last night went so far beyond a typical choir concert by incorporating original musical compositions, poetry, photography, sculpture, and drawing - I suppose even the food represented a creative art form. It was a fantastic finish to the spring season, and the choir will definitely be missed during its summer vacation.

Choir concert this Sunday

Mark your calendars for this Sunday evening's choir concert. The concert begins at 7:00 and explores the theme "Love and Creation," dedicated to the memory of Bill Pearsall.

The evening will feature art, poetry, and music that has been created by members of the congregation. In that way, it epitomizes the sense of community that should always infuse worship in a congregation. We'd love to have a full church Sunday night!

Does performance intent matter?

Who would have thought that an organ recital could cause a tempest in a teapot? Musicians and clergy in the area have been debating the appropriateness of Cameron Carpenter's performance this week, especially following yesterday's Plain Dealer article. Some members of the American Guild of Organists are giddy at the chance to see him perform live, while others are ambiguous about whether he is all style versus substance. Some clergy are eager for the attention he brings to church music, while others fear his personal religious beliefs (or lack thereof) make his performance inappropriate.

I don't want to delve into the details of this debate. Frankly, I don't know him well enough to make judgements (and I think few of the people embroiled in this debate do either). What I find much more interesting is the question of whether a performer's traits, beliefs, and intent truly matter in a recital or in a worship setting.

Many organists play at churches of denominations other than their own faith. Personally, I've played for many Catholic services, including one year as a music director at a Catholic church, as well LCMS, Methodist, and other denominations. Clearly, I have beliefs and personal characteristics that are not in harmony with some of their doctrine. Does that make my music less effective or less appropriate?

Furthermore, there is a school of thought that interpretation is king in the arts. To take one popular novel as an analogy, consider Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Is the book an indictment of faith? A radical historical theory or revision? Perhaps it's a rollicking thriller? Or do you enjoy reading it for the history, art, and architecture? Could the author possibly have imbued the book with each of these levels with complete intention? Which one does he consider primary - and does it matter? If Dan Brown meant to attack religion, but you simply enjoy the story, then surely your interpretation trumps his intent.

Similarly, there are people who find faith in all kinds of unorthodox places. (This blog alone has mentioned Broadway shows, film and television, poetry and books, though most of them had no intent to preach.) Some people find more religious meaning in a trip to Severance Hall than a church.

Meanwhile, not every piece of church music will hold meaning for every listener. Some members of our congregation love to hear the harpsichord, some love to hear ancient chant music, or the original Latin mass parts. And for each of those styles, there are other members who find no joy or meaning.

So to return to Cameron Carpenter for a moment - should we care about his religious belief (or his outfits)? I say no. He won't be preaching; he'll be performing music. Don't the listeners' reactions to the music (from sublime prayer to indifference) outweigh anything he ever said in a newspaper interview?

Organ concert at Messiah Lutheran, Fairview Park

This week, residents of northeast Ohio have a unique opportunity to hear what promises to be an incredible organ recital. Cameron Carpenter will be performing at Messiah Lutheran in Fairview Park this Thursday night at 8:00 pm. He is an incredibly famous performer in the organ world today. He can perform melodies in the pedal line that some performers would struggle to play with their right hand, and he'll be inaugurating and showing off the church's newly rebuilt pipe organ.

Personally, I have a class on Thursday night and won't be able to attend. (Somehow I seem to have a class every evening all spring, which is a shame when it conflicts with great events like this concert!) But I encourage you to consider attending (call the church for ticket info). At the very least, you should take a look at some of Cameron's performances that are available online. Click here for one fun example from Youtube.

St. Olaf Review, Part 1

The St. Olaf Choir concert at Severance Hall last night was an evening of beautiful and meaningful music. I hope that some of the people who were there will join me in sharing some thoughts about the concert for the next few days.

My first comment is a bit of a confession. Despite all my praise of Bach here lately and the recent discussion on the blog, my least favorite piece of the whole concert would have to be the Bach cantata. It's not that it wasn't beautiful. It simply couldn't compare to the rest of the music, in my opinion. It reminded me that not every piece of music can reach every person.

At the other extreme, one of the high moments of the night, I felt, was the composition by Jeffrey Ames titled "For the Sake of Our Children." Because I had watched part of the Grammy Awards ceremony the night before, I immediately noticed the stark contrast between this piece and Michael Jackson's "Earth Song," despite their similar themes. It's like comparing Brandywine Falls in Cuyahoga National Park to Niagara Falls - they are both beautiful, but one holds only a fraction of the power and depth of the other.

The choir sang the beautiful lyrics of this intercessory prayer so bravely that the music is still in mind today:

O Lord, we pray for Your justice and peace.
People rise up, pour out your hearts unto the Lord.
May He send His wondrous love o'er all the earth,
And grant us peace that this world cannot give.
Let there be peace, never-ending peace.

O God, save the children.
Shelter them with Your loving arms.
May Your angels guard and protect them we pray.
O Lord, we pray!

Overall, the most wonderful thing about the group in general is their deep musicality and unity. Their consonants are crisp, their vowels perfectly formed, and their dynamic contrasts and phrasing give amazing vitality to the music. That total commitment to quality and to their message is what elevates the choir's music to the sublime level of beautiful prayer that we experienced last night.

Concert reminder

I think that fellowship, participation, and a sense of community are vital aspects of a thriving church congregation. Clearly, my particular passion is to get people excited about Lutheran church music. I hope that every month there is something in the music that is a memorable highlight for every member - whether it's the chance to sing a favorite hymn, a prelude or postlude that stands out, or a choir anthem that you find yourself humming all week long.

For the same reasons, I'm really hoping that people will be interested in attending the St. Olaf Choir concert on Monday, Feb. 1st. Tickets are $25, and there is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board at church. The concert is sure to include plenty of great sacred music in a variety of styles. The night should provide spiritual refreshment as well as the fellowship of attending with members of our church. Please consider joining us. Check your calendar, and you can contact me with any questions.

The Oles are coming

I received my copy of the Bethany News a few days ago, so I know the word is now out there about the St. Olaf Choir's performance at Severance Hall at 7:30 on Feb 1st, 2010. I really want to encourage people to attend that performance, and I'll post a sign up sheet on the bulletin board to purchase group tickets at $25 each. It should be a night of great music and fellowship.

You might have heard the choir perform around the holidays. In fact, the Christmas Festival concert was this past weekend, and there will be more opportunities to hear them on the radio and see them on public television. You might also be familiar with their recording of Great Hymns of Faith, but of course it's even better to hear them perform live! This is a unique opportunity to hear a fantastic group at a reasonable price.

It also has never ceased to amaze me how many of the people I have met in the greater Cleveland area have never been to Severance Hall or haven't been there for a concert in years. We're so fortunate to have not only an incredibly beautiful building but also one of the world's great orchestras and other performances so nearby. It should be a fun night, so please join us for what should be an incredible concert, and be in touch with me if you want any more information.

Concert series: Mount Union College Choir

Next Friday night (Nov. 20th at 7:30 pm), the concert series at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist continues in downtown Cleveland. The Mount Union College Choir will be performing a wide variety of works. The promo information I've read simply lists the composers (Handel, Victoria, Seelinck, Lauridsen, Walton, Vaughan Williams, Britten, and Whitacre), so I don't know how much of it will be sacred, but it's a safe bet there will be a great deal and that it will all be beautiful.

This is a great chance to hear some of the best choral literature performed in our own backyard, and it's another free event - free will offering only. Hope to see you there!

Tom Hanks

If you read Sunday's Plain Dealer, you couldn't miss the flurry of coverage about Tom Hanks visit to town to help raise money for the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The music and theatre community in the Cleveland area is amazingly vibrant, and we're fortunate to have so many opportunities around us. My favorite quote from Hanks, though, was that he called the Hanna Theatre a place of "artistic worship."

Yes, theatres can be places of inspiration and worship (which is different, by the way, from saying that churches are places of theatre). Our faith should inform our lives, actions, thoughts, and attitude every day. We bring our lives back to worship on Sunday to share, to worship, to seek forgiveness, and to recharge for the week ahead.

Baroque music concert

Next Wednesday evening (Oct. 14th at 7:30 pm) is the first concert in the fall concert series at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. The performers are the group Tempesta di Mare, based in Philadelphia. They play Baroque music on period instruments. (You can see in the picture that it involves recorders and lutes, and they also use a harpsichord, of course.)

For you Bach fans, this concert will be a unique opportunity to hear his music performed authentically. Plus, it's a free concert (good will offering only).

Choir members, I guess we'll be missing this one, but I'll write about the other concerts in the series as they arrive.

"Music Near the Market"

Last spring, I had managed to arrange my academic schedule so that I could attend the Wednesday afternoon concerts at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ohio City. I wrote then about the great experience of hearing their von Beckerath organ and the joy of an afternoon in Ohio City and shopping at the West Side Market. Unfortunately, this semester will not allow me to attend any of the concerts, but I want to help spread the word about the great opportunity to hear beautiful organ music in the area.

On Sept. 23rd at noon, Robert Myers will play a concert of "Point counterpoint," featuring the music of Bach and Pachelbel.

On Sept. 30th at noon, Linda Kempke and flutist Julie Wesolek will be performing together.

If you happen to be free, these events promise to feature incredible music in a beautiful setting!

Where to be this Saturday night

I will be out of town this week, and Cassie will be taking over the organ bench. Thus, I'll miss what I think is the best concert of this year's Cleveland Orchestra series at Blossom. Saturday night they'll be playing "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano concerto.

That particular piano concerto was actually my competition piece one season in high school. I never did get the opportunity to play it with an orchestra, but I loved the many recitals and musicales and competitions where I played it with an accompanist. The second movement in particular is gorgeous in its lyricism, though it also has incredibly flashy and intricate passage work as well. The piece is often overshadowed by Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto, but to me the 2nd is among the most beautiful concertos ever written for the piano.

The other main piece, "Pictures at an Exhibition," is a staple of every orchestra's repertoire. I remember hearing it as a child at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. They projected huge images of the artwork on a screen that covered the back wall behind the orchestra. It was a wonderful marriage of visual art and music. The truly transcendent moment of the suite is "The Great Gate of Kiev." The music perfectly captures the sense of travel and arrival at an imposing city monument, and the climax of the music never fails to make my spirit soar. If you had to ask me to name one "secular" piece of music in which I felt the presence of God, this would be it.

If you don't have plans for Saturday night, I can't imagine a more perfect evening than a picnic on the lawn and a great night of music. Wish I could be there!

Local concerts at Trinity

Since I'm a transplant to the greater Cleveland area, I've always been eager to seek out the best sights and experiences the area has to offer, from parks to art museums, from restaurants to music. It never ceases to amaze me when I stumble across a gem that long-time residents have overlooked, taken for granted, or simply been too busy to explore. We sometimes forget the amazing things in our own backyard or put them off for "another day." Next week will perhaps give you the chance to rectify that by attending either of two upcoming organ recitals on Trinity Lutheran's famous Beckerath organ at West 30th.

The first recital will be July 6th at 4:00 p.m. That concert is one of the free events sponsored by the National Organ Historical Society, and it will feature the renowned organist Joan Lippincott. The church will likely be packed, so arrive early or be willing to stand.

If you'd prefer a smaller crowd, you can go to a much more informal program on the afternoon of July 11th at 1:00 p.m. The church is describing the event as a musical open house, with a range of performers from professionals to students. Refreshments will be for sale, and people are free to come and go for as much music as they'd like. This event would be a perfect break from shopping at the West Side Market on a Saturday afternoon. That sounds like a near perfect way to spend the day in Cleveland, if you ask this newcomer!

This Saturday

Readers of the Plain Dealer will not have missed the news, but I want to help spread the word that the East Wing of the Cleveland Museum of Art is open for regular hours beginning on Saturday. It's a perfect "staycation" destination, or a place to visit before heading to a park or a farmer's market, or even just a nice break from yard work.

The space is devoted to more contemporary art, but that includes work stretching back into the 19th century so don't worry: it isn't all just paintings of colored dots or Pollock-esque splatters. In fact, I was thrilled to discover that the museum has one of my favorite Rodin sculptures the Age of Bronze in the southern most room of the new wing.

I've seen several castings of the work, including one in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. In fact, when I lived within walking distance of the MIA I would visit the museum at least monthly and always stop by to see this statue. To me, it's an enigmatic work. Is the figure in agony or ecstasy? Is the left hand holding something? Does the lack of an object in that hand symbolize something lost? Is there a glimmer of hope? My little art history helps me spot the contrappasto stance Rodin chose, and the goofy side of me wonders if the model simply forgot to have his V-8. In short, it makes me laugh and think - what all great art should do. (By the way, I've done a fair amount of research on the sculpture so I do know the "right" answers to some of these questions. But I wouldn't want to spoil the experience of interpretation for you. After all, sometimes personal experiences of art should trump the artists and the academics - a position I'm sure Umberto Eco would be proud of!)

So much of art history is based on religious symbolism and understanding. After all, Michelangelo's Pieta is meaningless if you can't instantly realize that it's Christ and Mary being depicted. Knowing the lives of saints and Greek myths adds layers of understanding to a visit to a museum. In other words, remember that church isn't the only place to learn more about religion, and music isn't the only art that aids our understanding. On returning to church on Sunday, you might even observe the stained glass windows in a new way.

Lutheran Wind Ensemble concert

Clearly, one of my favorite things about being a life-long Lutheran is our rich musical heritage. I'm also a huge supporter of amateur or part-time musicians, who play just for the love of music and the camaraderie of performing together. I think it's so important that lovers of Lutheran music support and encourage each other, so I'm using my blog entry today to let you know about an upcoming concert by the Lutheran Wind Ensemble.

I've never heard the group play, but Tim who played trumpet for us on Easter is a member and that alone is a pretty good endorsement! I'm going to the event, and I'll probably write more about it next week.

In the meantime, here's the concert info for anyone else who might be interested:
Saturday, April 18th, 7:30 PM
St. Paul Lutheran Stage
27981 Detroit Rd
Admission: $3

Church marketing

Some people get deeply offended at the combination of the words "church" and "marketing." However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, church attendance and membership is shrinking around the country. The only time the Plain Dealer puts a church on its front page is when it's closing. We'll never see the headline "Growing attendance at Bethany's Wednesday Lenten services" even though it's true. Churches sometimes act like the people will simply come through their doors because they always have. We know that isn't true, though; we know intuitively that something must be done to keep from becoming irrelevant.

I always hope that music can help draw people to the church. However, I have occasional doubts since the press also loves to run stories about some business using Bach's music to drive teenagers away. In my family's own experience, children won't approach a house on Halloween if Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in d minor" is playing loudly on the porch! Whoopi Goldberg scares her students in Sister Act 2 when she announces they will sing in a choir.

What can a church musician do? Some churches switch to contemporary music or even "Christian Rock." The ELW uses inclusive language and world music. My approach is to use the widest possible variety of sounds within the Lutheran tradition, to write this blog as an attempt to communicate and connect with musicians and congregants, and simply to keep asking questions and searching for new ideas. Some days that seems like frustratingly little, but it's worth the struggle for the one person who enjoys a prelude or a new reader who connects with the church and its music differently.


Pastor's sermon on the 9th and 10th commandments pointed out the dangers of marketing, but I'd like to suggest that marketing is simply a tool for sharing information. The product can be of any quality. We might, like John Stuart Mill, distinguish between the higher and lower goods and activities available to us. What a shame if only the lowest quality, least fulfilling things are marketed! Let's pick up the tools and use them for good instead. How will people know about our church if we don't ever spread the word?

On Palm Sunday, Pastor noted that Christ asks us who we say he is. Maybe some of the best "marketing" is simply to follow his example and keep asking that question of the world and those around us. I don't claim to have a brilliant solution to any of the problems churches face, but it is so important that we keep thinking about them and exploring new options. What is our purpose? How will we measure our success? (One of my favorite blogs on this topic is here.)

Have a brilliant idea of how music ministry can help with marketing and outreach? Have a favorite piece of music you want to hear? Leave a comment or send an email anytime!