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Christ & Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church
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Music

Sing to the Lord a new song... Psalm 96:1

Christ and Saint Stephen’s has a long history of praise and worship of God in song and sacred music.

It is often said “he who sings prays twice.” Saint Augustine usually receives credit for the adage and, while there is no evidence that he used those exact words, it is easy to see why he would receive the attribution. Augustine had a high view of the relationship between worship and music and expressed it when he said, “he who sings praise, does not only praise, but also praises joyfully” and, “in the song of the lover there is love.” Augustine understood that when God is the subject, the lover offers something of his very being to the creator through the song.

Music is much more than an ornament to worship, it is worship itself. And when we offer music at the altar we are offering it not to an audience, or even to a congregation, but to God. Each Sunday, the prelude is the beginning of our worship, for it helps us prepare to enter more fully into God’s presence in and through our worship and can often convey feelings of adoration that words alone cannot express. At the end of the service, music helps express our thanks to God for the grace we have shared at his altar.

Of course, worshippers incorporated music in worship long before liturgical theologians began discussing its merits. Ancient psalms tell us to “serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song” (Ps. 100:1) and the faithful have been doing it ever since.

From September through to the end of June, we continue to celebrate the rich musical tradition of our Anglican heritage, with our all-professional choir singing a rich variety of anthems from the Renaissance period through the 20th Century to newly commissioned works by some of Americans leading composers. The choir also sings the appointed psalms and select movements from the Mass setting, in addition to leading the singing of hymns and the congregational portions of the Mass setting.

Through out the season, the choir also sings a variety of Special Services, including a Solemn Requiem for All Souls, an Advent Lessons & Carols Service, in additional to the extra services of Christmas, Holy Week and Easter.

Music at Christ & Saint Stephen’s also hosts a variety of concerts and musical events which not only feature our staff organists, but nationally and internationally renowned concert musicians. In recent seasons we have hosted: Organists - Thomas Murray, Bruce Neswick, Isabelle Demers, David Enlow, Benjamin Sheen, Christopher Houlihan, Paul Jacobs, and Nigel Potts (as well as staff organist Parker Ramsey); The Ullern Chamber Choir from Oslo, Norway; The Guildford Cathedral Choir of Men & Boys (UK); St. Salvator's Chapel Choir, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; Tenor Gregory Lorenz; Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Rose Taylor; Pianist/Organist Jeremy Filsell; Italian Pianist Sandro Russo and Guitarist Jerry Willard. The professional choir has also performed in concert with guest conductor Paul Spicer from England.

Our exceptional organ was designed and built by the San Francisco Company of Schoenstein & Co. in 2008, the first of its kind in New York City, and full details (including a CD and demo video) of this remarkable instrument can be read and viewed on our Schoenstein Organ page.

We give thanks to God for the gift of music and for the talented musicians who offer their gifts in this, the oldest church of our music loving neighborhood.

We hope that you will join us to “Sing to the LORD a new song.” (Ps. 96:1). And may God be praised.


History of Music

Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts... Ephesians 5:19

On Trinity Sunday of 2008, The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk, Bishop of New York, dedicated Schoenstein organ to the Praise and Glory of God. The occasion marked a new beginning in the musical history of two of New York City's oldest …

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The Schoenstein & Co. Organ

Loud organs, his glory forth tell in deep tone... The Hymnal 1982, #432

The organ at Christ & Saint Stephen's was designed and built by the San Francisco Company of Schoenstein & Co. in 2008.

The organ of 15 stops, is in the symphonic style, of which its concepts of maximum variety of tonal color and the widest possible dynamic range, create…

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The Choir

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God... Luke 2:13

The Choir of Christ & Saint Stephen's consists of five New York professional singers.

Although they all come with a wealth of choral experience for blend and liturgical empathy, the choir members also have active solo, oratorio, and/or operatic careers within the USA and Europe.

The choir sings the principal Sunday morning Choral Eucharist service (with reduced numbers during the summer), as well as extra services for the major feast days and other special services, such as Choral Evensong during the year. A wide range of repertoire is sung during the course of the liturgical season, from the late Medieval and Renaissance period, through the 20th Century to compositions of the present day, but with an emphasis on Tudor England and the great Anglican Choral tradition. The choir has commissioned music by prominent American composers such as Bruce Neswick and Robert Lehman, and has been directed by respected visiting conductors such as Paul Spicer, Brian Jones and Jared Johnson.


Concert Rental Program

The Concert Rental Program is an outreach ministry of Christ & Saint Stephen's Church which rents out the church worship space at non-profit rates to musicians for rehearsal and performance as a way of supporting the development of music -- which so richly enhances our spiritual life.

The Christ & Saint Stephen's Church worship space seats approximately 300 guests, and is a bea…

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Calendar of Music Events

Upcoming Events

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Paul Jacobs
Artist-in-Residence

    Paul Jacobs

    Artist-in-Residence

    Paul Jacobs made musical history at the age of 23 when, on the 250th anniversary of the death of J. S. Bach in 2000, he played the composer’s complete organ music in an 18-hour non-stop marathon in Pittsburgh. Today, Mr. Jacobs, hailed for his solid musicianship, prodigious technique and vivid interpretive imagination in performances throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, is widely acknowledged for reinvigorating the American organ scene with a fresh performance style and “an unbridled joy of music-making” (Baltimore Sun). In 2003 Mr. Jacobs was invited to join the faculty of The Juilliard School , and the following year, he was named chairman of the organ department, one of the youngest faculty appointments in Juilliard’s history.

    Known for his “charismatic showmanship and unflagging exuberance” (Wall Street Journal), Mr. Jacobs possesses a vast repertoire spanning from the 16th century through contemporary times. He has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in a series of nine-hour marathons in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago, where the Chicago Tribune called him “one of the most supremely gifted young organists of his generation,” and in New York, where The New York Times praised his “supple technique and vivid interpretive imagination.”

    Following his debut at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mr. Jacobs is embarking on a particularly noteworthy 2008-09 season, highlighted by debut performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony led by Yan Pascal Tortelier, the Phoenix Symphony conducted by Michael Christie, and the opening concerts of the Pacific Symphony’s new season with Mr. Jacobs dedicating the new Fisk organ at Segerstrom Concert Hall in a concert highlighted by world premiere of a new work for organ, brass, and percussion commissioned by the orchestra from Masterprize and Grammy Award-winner Christopher Theofanidis.

    He reintroduced an unpublished prelude and fugue by Samuel Barber, performed only once in 1928, in performances in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and in San Francisco, where he was presented by the San Francisco Symphony as part of their celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the orchestra’s Ruffatti organ. On December 10, 2008, the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, Mr. Jacobs marked the occasion with the composer’s Livre du Saint Sacrement in Woolsey Hall at Yale University , Mr. Jacobs’s alma mater.

    Highlights of Mr. Jacobs’s most recent season included performances throughout North America, including several in New York City: His performance of Olivier Messiaen’s 1984 magnum opus Livre du Saint Sacrement at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square, was named by New York magazine as one of New York’s 10 best classical performances of 2007. This was the concluding event of three activities he presented as the recipient of Juilliard’s 2007 William Schuman Scholar’s Chair. He was also tapped by Juilliard for the conservatory’s fifth annual Jerome L. Greene concert, a series honoring the memory and legacy of one of Juilliard’s staunchest supporters and dedicated exclusively to the performance of 17th- and early 18th-century music and recently dedicated New York’s first Schoenstein organ at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church on Manhattan’s West Side, where Mr. Jacobs is the artist in residence.

    Paul Jacobs began studying the piano at the age of six and the organ at age 13. At 15 he was appointed head organist of a parish of 3,500 families in his hometown of Washington, Pennsylvania. Mr. Jacobs studied at The Curtis Institute of Music , where he double-majored in organ with John Weaver and harpsichord with Lionel Party. At Yale University, where Mr. Jacobs subsequently studied organ with Thomas Murray, he received a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma and was awarded several honors, including the Dean’s Prize, the Faculty Prize of the Institute of Sacred Music, and Yale School of Music’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Most recently, Mr. Jacobs was invited to join the Yale University Council Committee on the School of Music by University President Richard Levin.

    Mr. Jacobs has captured first prize in numerous competitions, including the 1998 Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition and is the first organist ever to be honored with the Harvard Musical Association’s Arthur W. Foote Award.

    In addition to concert appearances and teaching, Mr. Jacobs has been a featured performer at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and performs frequently at festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. He has appeared on American Public Media’s “Pipedreams” and “Saint Paul Sunday,” Bavarian Radio, Brazilian Arts Television, ABC-TV’s World News Tonight, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, NPR’s Morning Edition, and CBC Radio


    Music History of Music The Schoenstein & Co. Organ The Choir Concert Rental Program Calendar of Music Events

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    120 W 69th St · New York, NY 10023
    (212) 787-2755
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    Service Times

    Sunday Worship

    • 8:30 am The Holy Eucharist (spoken service)
    • 11:00 am The Holy Eucharist (choir & hymns)
    • 5:00 p.m. Evening Prayer on Zoom

    Wednesday

    • 12:15 pm Communion in the Garden

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    Christ & Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church
    120 W 69th St
    New York, NY 10023

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    (212) 787-2755

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    The worship of God is at the very heart of our life together...

    Every Sunday we offer inspiring worship with beautiful sacred music. In all we do, we offer the best we have, we experience the mystery of God, hear and wrestle with God's word, share Christ's presence in the sacrament, and feel God's love in our community, and leave strengthened to live and serve in the world. Please join us for worship, fellowship, outreach and education. You'll receive a warm welcome from all of us at Christ & St. Stephen’s. We look forward to seeing you.


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    Stewardship is about being grateful, responsible stewards of the gifts we receive from God. The tradition of giving back to God and to the church comes from the Biblical practice of “tithing,” which means to give back a tenth of our earnings to God.

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