Music

Music is an integral part of liturgy at St. Paul's Church and is provided by a dynamic community of dedicated musicians from age 8 to 80. The Organist & Minister of Music is always delighted to hear from people who are interested in joining our choirs.

Minister of Music:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 804-643-3589, x 5406

What's New in Music Ministry at St. Paul's

Click here for the latest schedule of special services and concerts for the 2012 season.

St. Paul's Choirs

2011 Choirs, Photo by Jeanne LeFever

The St. Paul's Choristers are a choir of young people affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in America. Through fine choral music, the Choristers learn the fundamentals of making music with their voices and the basics of music theory. Singing in this choir fosters self-esteem as the Choristers find the ability to make music from the printed page. The Choristers work together as a team as they mentor each other in this process. The Choristers appear at services many times throughout the year.
Rehearsals are every Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Open to young people ages 8 (7 for advanced readers) through high school. No prior singing experience is necessary.

The Chancel Choir sing every Sunday at the 9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist. The Choir's primary role is to lead congregational singing, which includes traditional Anglican hymnody as well as more recent and ecumenical forms of liturgical music. Often meditative, repetitive chants, such as those of the Taizé community, and other "paperless" music are used. On most Sundays the Chancel Choir sing a short anthem during the distribution of Communion. The choir's diverse repertoire includes early-American hymns, African-American spirituals, and music from non-Western traditions.
This choir is open to those with some music reading ability.
Rehearsals as announced.

The Parish Choir, formed in 1895, are a semi-professional choir who sing every Sunday at the 11:15 a.m. service. This choir's wide-ranging repertoire is thoroughly steeped in the Anglican choral tradition and ranges from the proper chants of the Mass to newly composed anthems and motets. Each Sunday, in addition to leading the service music and hymns, the choir sing an introit, Anglican chant Psalm, anthem at the Offertory, and motet during Communion. Additionally, the Parish Choir sing services of Choral Evensong and Lessons and Carols throughout the year.
This choir is open to those with some music reading ability.
Rehearsals are every Thursday 7:00-9:00 p.m.

The Congregational Choir is a group for those who cannot make a regular weekly commitment to our other choirs, but would still like to sing from time to time. In 2010/11 opportunities to sing in this choir included the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré and the anthem "How lovely are the messengers" by Felix Mendelssohn. This choir is open to all. Rehearsals as announced.