The Triduum begins with an agape meal and service of Tenebrae this Maundy Thursday.evening. Organ works by Olivier Messiaen and Jehan Alain will be offered along with a poignant setting of the spiritual "Were You There?" by Bob Chilcott from the Chancel Choir. Cellist Aaron Dunigan-AtLee also joins us for this poignant service of communion and shadows.

On the solemn feast day of Good Friday, a time for prayer, reflection and meditation will be presented with the organ repertoire of Passiontide by composers J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jean Langlais, and Arvo Pärt.

Easter Sunday morning begins with the joyful strains of the Plymouth Brass ensemble. The Chancel Choir offers the Southern Harmony-influenced anthem "Tell the News!" by David Ashley White. The Plymouth Ringers offer a quiet joy during communion time with Eastertide meditations and carols. The organ closes our Paschal celebration with the riveting "Final from Organ Symphony No. 1" by titular organist and composer of Notre Dame Cathedral (1900-1937) Louis Vierne.

The music of the Triduum has always been among the most poignant, dramatic, and meaningful to me over my decades in music ministry. Beginning with the solemnity of Maundy Thursday, merging into the stark character of Good Friday and concluding with the glorious Alleluias of Easter Sunday, the Triduum is meant to be experienced as one uninterrupted space of worship—whether seated in the pews (watching on your pc screen!) or going about one's day. The music tells the story of Christ's Passion and Resurrection just as much as the verbal narratives we will hear this week.

This Maundy Thursday, Olivier Messiaen's ode to the Eucharist, "Le Banquet Céleste" (The Celestial Banquet), opens worship on a most mystical note—a work meant to embody mystery and eternity. Cellist Heidi Mausbach offers musical responses during the Tenebrae portion of the service by J.S. Bach and a collaboration on the Gregorian Chant-based setting of "Ubi Caritas" by Jeanne Demessieux. The sublime "Choral Dorien" by Jehan Alain brings the service to a meditative close.

The noon Good Friday Musical Meditation and Prayer event is a brief presentation for you to reflect upon this holy day. Settings on hymns of the Passion such as "Ah, Holy Jesus", "My Song Is Love Unknown" and "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" will be offered and concluding with Arvo Pärt's tranquil "Pari Intervallo."      

This Easter Sunday morning heralds the return of the Plymouth Brass, our resident brass quintet, in works by Michael Praetorius and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.  The Plymouth Ringers and Chancel Choir will also be present as we celebrate the Risen Christ in two settings of Paschal hymns. The gloriously transcendent "Acclamations" from Jean Langlais' "Suite Médiévale" closes worship with an imaginative set of variations on the two-note Gregorian Chant motif "Christus Vincit": Christ victorious.  

On Easter Sunday evening at 6:00, we center ourselves around the Road to Emmaus story as bread is broken and shared, revealing the Risen Christ. Guitarist Alan Skowron joins us for songs of transformation and resurrection by Gungor, U2, and Easter carols of yore. 

Expressions of the Triduum from the German Baroque era and ethereal sonorities from 20th century French composers greet us this Maundy Thursday. The impressionistic work "Le Banquet Céleste" (The Heavenly Feast) by Olivier Messiaen begins the service as a musical paraphrase of the eucharistic text John 6.56: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them." Cellist Heidi Mausbach joins us for the restless and surreal second movement of Sonata in A Minor for cello and organ by Marcel Dupré. With soprano Blair Carpenter, the sublime "Pie Jesu" from Maurice Duruflé's Requiemwill be offered. Additional works by J.S. Bach, Ronald Perera, Jean Langlais, and Jehan Alain bring this holy night to a tranquil and reflective space of repose.      

On Good Friday, a meditation though music, prayer, scripture, and poetry will be offered at noon. Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson will weave in stories of this holy day with musical expressions from the organ contributing their own tales. Repertoire spanning the centuries including J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Helmut Walcha, and Ludwig Lenel provide you with an inviting template to contemplate the life and death of Christ. In closing, a setting by Jeanne Demessieux on the Good Friday text "In Manus Tuas" (Into your hands, O Father, I commend my spirit) concludes this prayerful time.

The Plymouth Brass returns this Easter Sunday to lead our hymn singing and share joyful works of the Paschal season by G.F. Handel and Johann Crüger. The ecstatic joy of Jean Langlais'  "Acclamations" from Suite Médiévale closes the Easter celebration in triumph: Christus vincit.