3rd Sunday after Epiphany (1/27/19)

Congregational Church UCC in Maynard Massachusetts MA Source: Wikimedia Commons

​Two contemporary organ works by two living female American composers will be heard this Sunday morning. Libby Larsen is a Grammy Award winner and has held the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress as well as residencies at the Minnesota Orchestra and Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Her music is inspired by the rhythms of the English language and has deep American roots. Her setting of the hymn "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" opens the services. Brenda Portman was a colleague of mine at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and currently is an organ professor at Xavier University and Resident Organist at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church, both in Cincinnati. Her Baroque-inspired setting of the tune Darwall's 148th (known as hymn 303 in the New Century Hymnal, "Rejoice, Give Thanks and Sing") closes the services on an energetic note. 

The Plymouth Ringers visit the 9:00 a.m. service with the Epiphany hymn "Brightest and Best" arranged by Terry Osman. And at 11:00 a.m.,the Chancel Choir offers composer Craig Courtney's anthem of unity and purpose in One Faith, One Hope, One Lord, based on Ephesians 4.