Music Events

Music is plays an important role in enriching our church experience. In addition to enhancing our worship services, our choir, along with accompanying instrumentalists, offers two outstanding musical events each year — a Christmas Concert and a Spring Concert.

Contact our Kathleen McGuire, our Minister of Music and Arts if you are interested in joining our choir or learning about any of the musical groups or events at our church.

Christmas Concert, 2011
Sunday, December 11
10:30 a.m. (morning worship service)

Featuring traditional carols, plus movements from: Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest by Conrad Susa (1992) Messiah by G.F. Handel (1741) Accompanied by members of the Community Women’s Orchestra.
Conrad Susa, now a professor of Music Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, composed Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest in 1992 as a companion piece for Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. It was commissioned by Philip Brunelle and the Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis. The idea of gathering together settings of traditional Spanish carols came from Gary Holt (who also happens to be a friend of Kathleen McGuire’s), who had sung the songs as a boy growing up in Arizona. The CCSM Chancel Choir will sing five of the set of ten carols, using both Spanish and English. Messiah, undoubtedly Handel’s most successful and best-known oratorio, was composed in 1741 in only 24 days! The Chancel Choir will present some of the most popular movements, including: And the Glory, For Unto Us a Child is Born, Glory to God, and—of course—the Hallelujah chorus. Interspersed will be solo movements. Accompanying the choir this year will be musicians from the Oakland-based Community Women’s Orchestra (CWO). Founded in 1985, CWO’s mission is to create opportunities for female orchestral musicians in a fun and welcoming environment. For more information about CWO, visit: www. communitywomensorchestra.org.