Darien's St Luke's Hosts Youth Choir Festival

Saint Luke’s Parish in Darien will be presenting Choral Evensong, Saturday, October 27, at 5 PM. The service will be the culmination of Saint Luke’s first Royal School of Church Music Treble Festival featuring young singers from across Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. It 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 include: The Choir School of Hartford; St. Stephen’s, Ridgefield, CT; Saint Paul’s Choir School, Englewood, NJ; The Choir School of Asbury Park, NJ; singers from Saint Luke’s, East Greenwich, RI; and the choristers of Saint Luke’s, Darien.

The service, held in the historic Saint Luke’s Parish church at 1864 Boston Post Rd., Darien, is free and open to everyone. A family-friendly reception will follow in the Parish Hall.

Participating Choirs in the Festival are all affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in America. The RSCM, headquartered in the UK with a branch in America, 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.

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.