Music
Chancel Choir
With attention to diverse styles, the Chancel Choir regularly presents anthems representative of a variety of times and traditions. It also teams up with other choirs and choristers for community events like Interfaith Thanksgiving Services.
Led by Amy Pott, rehearsals are Wednesdays from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
High schoolers and adults are welcome!
Sonotori Choir
Hear our Sonotori Ringers perform a wide variety of challenging handbell arrangements, from traditional hymns to contemporary pieces. Perhaps you’d like to join but have no experience? We can teach you. Practices are Monday evenings at 6:30 pm.
Children’s Choir
Our Children’s Choir sings in worship periodically throughout the year. It also accompanies the Chancel and Sonotori Handbell Choirs. A highlight of the Children’s Choir season is singing at the Christmas pageant, as part of the Family Christmas Eve service.
Guest Artists
From vocalists and instrumentalists to dancers and storytellers, guest artists appear regularly in our Sunday services. Past guests have ranged from talented local students to professionals from Carnegie Hall.
Arts Corner with Amy
Each week, Director of Worship Arts Amy Pott writes a short piece about a topic of interest in the art world. Her descriptions might be about music, dance, art, theater or literature. Their variety shows that the arts are for everyone! Below are two examples.
Florence Price – composer
1887 - 1953
Florence Beatrice Smith Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887. She began studying piano at a very early age leading to her first recital performance at age 4. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class at age 14, she earned a degree in organ performance from the New England Conservatory. A composition career followed, leading to performances of her works by numerous major symphonies, then unheard of for an African-American woman.
Famous soloists also programmed her works. In her historic 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Marian Anderson sang Ms. Price’s setting of “My Soul’s Been Anchored In ‘de Lord.”
Most of Ms. Price’s manuscripts were lost after her death – that is, until 2014. A couple purchased an abandoned house in a Chicago suburb and were preparing it for renovations when they found a large trove of music manuscripts, all bearing the name “Florence Price.” These unearthed documents became the core of the Florence Beatrice Smith Price Collection at the University of Arkansas and reintroduced the previously lost works to the world.
You can listen to numerous performances of Ms. Price’s works on YouTube, including her rendition of this exquisite “Adoration” by Orquestra Sem Fronteiras.
Dale Chihuly – glass artist
1941-
A native of Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly first became interested in glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. Upon graduation, he enrolled in the country’s first glass program, at the University of Wisconsin, where he also studied sculpture. His experiments using glass threads to create textiles soon gave way to his primary interest in glassblowing.
Chihuly has been heralded as “one of the most important artists of the 21st century” who “revolutionized the art of glass blowing, elevating perceptions of the medium from craft to fine art.” While traditional glass production was about symmetry and perfection, Chihuly pioneered organic techniques which made use of gravity to allow molten glass to find its own shape, celebrating asymmetry and imperfection. His exhibitions have been seen all over the world, and have often been installed in unusual places, such as his series of chandeliers hung over canals in Venice. Locally, you can view his “Blue and Beyond Blue” at the New Britain Museum of American Art, and his “Ode to Joy” at The Bushnell in Hartford.