Sunday 11 am services designated A Choral Feast present the opportunity to experience great sacred choral repertoire, often heard in concert halls, within their original context of a worship service. These services are held about once each month and celebrate a specific theme, composer, or present a major choral work, often with instrumentalists joining St. Bartholomew's Choir. Our magnificent Aeolian-Skinner organ is always a featured part of our musical offerings, including approximately ten minutes of solo organ music before the service, as well as a featured work to conclude worship.
Many of the great composers of the western musical canon have written music for use in worship, including major works such as Masses and Cantatas. Over the years, St. Bartholomew's has distinguished itself as a musical destination by including hundreds of such works, often with chamber orchestra, as a part of regular communal worship. Through A Choral Feast, St. Bart’s endeavors to present these great masterworks as they were originally intended by their creators: offered not in concert, but as a vehicle for worship, in gratitude to God.
Upcoming
Upcoming: April 23, 2023
We recognize with gratitude the Friends of A Choral Feast, whose generosity makes possible the additional rehearsal and resources needed for these services.
May 7, 2023
June 25, 2023
Past A Choral Feast Sundays
In the past, Choral Feasts have celebrated Americana for the Fourth of July, music of LGBTQ composers for Pride Weekend, and themes of heroism and service for Memorial Day. They sometimes mark red-letter days in the cycle of the church year, such as the Last Sunday after the Epiphany or All Saints’ Day. Recently featured composers have included Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Tomas Luis da Victoria, among others.February 12, 2023 Holst’s Mass in A Minor
Organ music by female composers: Florence Price and Jeanne Demessieux
October 30, 2022 Fauré’s Requiem with orchestra
All Souls Organ music by Vierne Watch the service
October 2, 2022 Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb
The Feast of St. Francis Organ music by Handel and John Cook
Watch the service
March 27, 2022 Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G Minor
and Love bade me welcome from Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs
Organ music by Bridge and Stanford
Watch the service
February 14, 2022 Modern Masters
Featuring the Missa Brevis of Jonathan Dove
Additional works by Barrie Cabena, Janet Yieh, Pärt, David Conte, Calvin Fuller
Watch the service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B_yibuU5QQ
November 7, 2020 Duruflé’s Requiem
All Saints’ Day Organ music by Duruflé
October 10, 2020 Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai with orchestra
Organ music by Bach
January 26, 2020 Music of Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, and Hildegard von Bingen
Organ music by Beach and Henri Mulet
November 17, 2019 Schubert’s Mass in C Major with orchestra
Organ music by Vierne
September 8, 2019 Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli
Organ music by Vivaldi
August 4, 2019 Bach’s Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Organ music by Bach
July 7, 2019 A Modified 1662 Liturgy for the Day
Featuring works of Batten, Alice Parker, David Conte, and Loosemore
Organ music by Locklair
June 30, 2019 Pride on Park
Pride Weekend Featuring works of Trafka, Hurd, Bernstein, and Copland
Organ music by John Corigliano and Ethel Smyth
May 26, 2019 Morning Prayer & Holy Eucharist
Memorial Day weekend Te Deum in B-flat - Charles Villiers Stanford
Jubilate Deo - William Walton
My soul there is a country (Songs of Farewell) - Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
King of Glory, King of Peace - Gerald Near
Organ music by Franck and Alain
May 12, 2019 Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B-flat with orchestra
Organ music by Eugène Gigout
March 3, 2019 Morning Prayer & Holy Eucharist
Featuring the Te Deum in G of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Antiphon (Five Mystical Songs) - Ralph Vaughan Williams
Surge, Illuminare - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Organ music by Vierne and Bach
February 3, 2019 Love Never Ends: music inspired by the love of God & neighbor
Missa “Vidi Speciosam” - Tomás Luis de Victoria
A Song of Divine Love - Grayston Ives
I beheld her - Healey Willan
Organ music by Bach
January 20, 2019 Mendelssohn’s Die Deutsche Liturgie
Organ music by Mendelssohn