The Episcopal High School Chamber Choir will sing music of the season in a free noontime concert on Wednesday, December 6, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.
On the program are:
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Adam lay ybounden - Boris Ord
Sicut cervus - Palestrina
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day - Nicholas White
Unclouded Day - arr. Shawn Kirchner
Steal Away - Nicholas White
Go Where I Send Thee - arr. Paul Caldwell & Sean Ivory
Carol of the Bells - Peter Whilhousky
What Sweeter Music - John Rutter
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - arr. Mac Huff
The choir sings under the direction of Brent Erstad who teaches at EHS and is the assistant director of music at St. John's.
The presentation is one of St. John's First Wednesday Concerts, always performed without charge and lasting about 35 minutes, beginning at 12:10 p.m.
St. John's was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services at the church, and several have been members. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.
Benjamin Latrobe, known as the "father of American architecture" and the architect of the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House porticos, designed St. John's Church in the form of a Greek cross.
The church bell, weighing almost 1,000 pounds, was cast by Paul Revere's son, Joseph, in August, 1822, and was hung at St. John's that November where it has rung since. Wikipedia says two accounts report that whenever the bell rings on the occasion of the death of a notable person, six male ghosts appear at the president's pew at midnight and quickly disappear.
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia LeslieDolley Madison, wife of President Madison, was baptized and confirmed at St. John's, according to the National Park Service, which calls the church "one of the few original remaining buildings left near Lafayette Park today."
Following inaugural tradition, President Donald J. Trump and his family began his presidency on January 20, 2017 with private services at St. John's.
For those on lunch break Wednesday, food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.
Who: The Episcopal High School Chamber Choir sing seasonal music
What: First Wednesday Concerts
When: 12:10 p.m., December 6, 2017
Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16th, Washington, D.C. 20005
How much: No charge
Duration: About 35 minutes
Wheelchair accessible
Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West
For more information: Contact Michael Lodico, St. John's director of music ministry and organist, 202-270-6265 or Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org or 202-347-8766
Other First Wednesday concerts, all beginning at 12:10 p.m. and lasting until 12:45 p.m., are:
January 10, 2018: Music from French composers by Julie Vidrick Evans, organist
February 7: Soloists from St. John's Choir
March 7: Preludes and Fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier by Mak Grgic, guitar, and Stephen Ackert, organ
April 4: The premiere of Paul Leavitt's Fanfare for Trumpet and Organ by Lisa Galoci, organist, and Chuck Seipp, trumpet
May 2: Music for Angels, including Craig Phillips' Archangel Suite by Michael Lodico, director of music and organist, St. John's
June 6: Music by Women Composers, including Margaret Sandresky's Dialogues for Organ and Strings by Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler, organist, with the U.S. Air Force Strings
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