St Luke’s Parish Hosts Choral Evensong Service with Six Choirs from CT, RI and NJ

Saint Luke’s Parish in Darien will be presenting Choral Evensong, Saturday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m., with young singers from across Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

— an announcement from Saint Luke’s Parish

Participating Choirs include: The Choir School of Hartford;  St. Stephen’s, Ridgefield; Saint Paul’s Choir School, Englewood, New Jersey; The Choir School of Asbury Park, New Jersey; singers from Saint Luke’s, East Greenwich, Rhode Island; and the choristers of Saint Luke’s, Darien.

The service will be the culmination of Saint Luke’s first Royal School of Church Music Treble Festival.

If You’re Going …

• The service starts at 5 p.m. in the historic Saint Luke’s Church at 1864 Boston Post Rd., Darien
• The event is free and open to everyone.
• A family-friendly reception will follow in the Parish Hall.

The choirs will perform works of composers Barry Rose, Harry Bramma and Martin How, as well as music by composer George Dyson, who, as a British grenadier officer during the first World War, wrote a training pamphlet, Notes On Grenade Warfare,  for which he became well known.

The service is being conducted by David Pulliam, director of music and organist at Saint Luke’s, and Cynthia Holberg, director of the Chorister Program.

Participating Choirs in the Festival are affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in America.

The RSCM, headquartered in the United Kingdom with a branch in the United States, is committed to the goal of uplifting the spiritual life of communities through the study, practice, and improvement of high quality choral music.

Evensong, one of the great legacies of Henry VIII and most cherished of Episcopal services, has its origins in the ancient monastic tradition of marking the day with specific times of prayer.

When the Church of England severed its Roman ties, Archbishop Cranmer (1489-1556) condensed traditional monastic services into Evensong, or Evening Prayer.