Music Series turning 50!
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This season we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego Cultural Events Committee’s annual Music Series, and it promises to be a year of concerts you won’t want to miss. In addition, for a fifth year in a row, we are sponsoring free Midday Pipes organ recitals featuring talented Southern California musicians on the second Wednesday of each month at 12:15 PM. These performances can be heard either in person in the church Sanctuary or online. Come, relax and enjoy beautiful music played on First Church’s 107-rank, 4-manual Blackinton and Associates pipe organ, the largest in San Diego County.
Our music series begins on October 9, 2022 at 5 PM with a Choral Evensong sung by the Chancel Choir and led by our new Director of Choral Activities, Brian Lustig, along with organist Jaebon Hwang. Choral Evensong is a service sung daily in English cathedrals, a practice which dates back hundreds of years. Our Evensong for the Feast of St. Francis will feature Benjamin Britten’s glorious cantata Rejoice in the Lamb. It will be preceded by First Church’s annual Blessing of the Animals from 3-4 PM
This year’s Advent choral concert on December 4, performed by the Chancel Choir and Masterwork Chorale, will for the first time in 50 years feature music composed by women as well as an exquisite piece by English composer Gerald Finzi, In terra pax. January’s evening of chamber music will be provided by the award-winning local favorite Hausmann Quartet.
In March, three San Diego State University choirs, the Chamber Choir, Concert Choir and University Chorus, directed by Dr. Arian Khaefi, will bring us exciting music, from ink-still-fresh to 500-year-old illuminated manuscript. On April 23, you won’t want to miss our spring choral concert by the Chancel Choir and Masterwork Chorale, featuring J.S. Bach’s beloved and powerful St. John Passion, with Timothy Simpson in the role of the Evangelist and Christopher Stephens as Jesus.
The season will end in June with a “brass bang” with the 24-piece Southern California Brass Consortium and organist Jaebon Hwang. Made up of the finest professional brass players and percussionists in SoCal, the SCBC has performed over 100 concerts across Southern California and beyond.
50th Anniversary of the First Church Cultural Events Committee’s Music Series
2022-23 Concert Season
choral evensong
Sunday, October 9, 2022
5 PM | Sanctuary | Live-streamed here
The Chancel Choir, Jaebon Hwang, Organ, Brian Lustig, Conductor.
Choral evensong is a service sung daily in English cathedrals, a practice which goes back hundreds of years. This evensong for the Feast of St. Francis will feature Benjamin Britten’s cantata Rejoice in the Lamb with a glorious setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange (Supported by the Robert Stadge Memorial Bequest)
Advent Choral Concert
Sunday, December 4, 2022
7 PM | Sanctuary | offering
Chancel Choir and Masterwork Chorale, Members and Friends of the San Diego Symphony. Directed by Brian Lustig
An eclectic musical program featuring Gerald Finzi’s In terra pax, Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare and Rosephanye Powell’s Christmas Give (excerpts)
In this program you will hear two brilliant English composers from the early 20th century, as well as two contemporary American women. This will be the first time in the 50-year concert series history that one of the choral concerts will feature music composed by women. Come and experience the power of these great pieces of choral art with members of the San Diego Symphony in our beautiful sanctuary!
Hausmann Quartet
sunday, January 29, 2023
7 PM | trotter chaple | Offering | reception in linder lounge
Isaac Allen, violin, Bram Goldstein, violin, Angela Choong, viola, Alex Greenbaum, cello.
SDSU choir concert
Sunday, March 12, 2023
7 PM | Sanctuary | Offering
San Diego State University, Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, and University Chorus. Directed by Dr. Arian Khaefi
This performance will feature everything from ink-still-fresh to 500-year-old-illuminated-manuscript and everything in between, portraying the natural and spiritual worlds, the realms of love and politics, and what it means to be a person
Spring Choral Concert
St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
Sunday, April 23, 2023
7 | Sanctuary | offering
Chancel Choir and Masterwork Chorale. Timothy Simpson, Evangelist, Christopher Stephens, Jesus. Members & Friends of the San Diego Symphony. Jaebon Hwang, Organ Continuo. Brian Lustig, Conductor
Southern California Brass Consortium
Sunday, June 11, 2023
7 PM | Sanctuary | offering | Reception
Jaebon Hwang, organ and the 24-piece Southern California Brass Consortium, made up of the finest professional brass players and percussionists in SoCal. The SCBC has performed over 100 concerts across Southern California and beyond.
SUPPORT THE MUSIC SERIES
We are so fortunate to receive your generous contributions dedicated to the Cultural Events Committee Music Series. While we always have enthusiastic audiences for these concerts, the free-will offerings, ticket sales and donations at the door simply do not cover the actual expenses of underwriting these excellent performances. Since we are dedicated to producing only high-quality and inspirational events, your donations truly make that possible.
Thank you for your continued support; we look forward to seeing you at the Music Series concerts this season and for many years to come!
Cultural Events Committee
Betsy Mueller, chair, Janine Burch, Demmie Divine,
Katie Englund, Nick Hubsmith, Jaebon Hwang, Betty Livingston,
Ron Livingston, Brian Lustig, Suzanne Stofer, Nathan Stowe,
Ralph Thomas, Spencer Velky, Steve Zawadzki.
donate here to Become a patron of the 2022-23 Music Series...
Betsy Mueller Chair, Cultural Events Committee
First United Methodist Church of San Diego