ST. TIMOTHY’S EPISCOPAL
Perrysburg church’s free carols concert set for Sunday
12/2/2013This holiday season, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Perrysburg continues its annual Advent/Christmas concert of the Festival of 7 Lessons and Carols. The free event is at 7 p.m. Sunday.
The Christmas concert program is part of the church’s Discover music series, now in its third year, and the Rev. Jeff Bunke, St. Timothy’s rector, said the plan is to make it an annual tradition.
“It’s our way once again to welcome the Christ child to the world. We’re hoping to have a full house,” he said.
The evening will feature singing and music by members of the Canterbury Singers USA, an ensemble of choral musicians interested in the musical traditions of the Anglican/Episcopal church. In the last 24 years, the group has performed in many famous Church of England cathedrals including Norwich, Durham, Canterbury, and St. Paul’s London, along with York Minster and Westminster Abbey.
It was the first American choir invited to sing for Sunday morning Eucharist services at St. Paul’s. In 1995, it was the only American choir invited to sing in Britain at one of the many services commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Also performing will be the chancel choir at St. Timothy’s; organist Lyle Hecklinger; Nancy Lendrim, principal harpist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and soprano Cheryl Babb, a soloist for this year’s production of Handel’s Messiah at the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle, which is earlier the same day. James Metzler will direct.
St. Timothy’s Advent/Christmas performance derives from the Christmas Eve service at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England, that is broadcast around the world and includes carols and Bible readings. The service was begun in 1918 and first broadcast 10 years later.
The Rev. Bunke said the St. Timothy’s service, at 781 E. Boundary St., will include Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and “sneak in a ditty from Messiah. I’ll be one of the singers too. There will be 25 to 30 of us.”
— Carl Ryan