RogerEvansOnline.com

If you (or someone you know) has an interest in making music in the context of liturgy, here’s an opportunity: beginning February 1, I will be assuming the duties of Director of Music at the Church of Notre Dame, on Morningside Drive at West 114th Street (one block from the Columbia University campus, around the corner from St. John the Divine, and next door to St. Luke’s Hospital) and the Columbia University Catholic Ministry.

Both the church and the chapel have enviable music histories. The church has some of the most thrilling acoustics for singing that I’ve ever encountered, a distinguished 1924 organ by Casavant Frères, and a music library of over 1,400 items. The library and the musical tradition of the parish are especially rich in Renaissance polyphony, but the repertory will also be inclusive of earlier and later eras, as well. There is a polyphonic choir that sings on Sundays at 11:30 a.m., but there are also schola opportunities at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays as well as at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Sundays. That’s at the church itself. I’ll also be providing music for the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass in St. Paul’s Chapel of Columbia University. That has equally fabulous acoustics and one of New York’s most important organs.

The choir of Notre Dame is a chamber group that meets for rehearsal on Wednesday evenings. The choir at St. Paul’s Chapel rehearses at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoons.

The clergy there are remarkable. We’re lucky to have three brilliant, and very different, priests who will give us support in creating beautiful music and who have already made amazing — and, frankly, unexpected — contributions to my own life. (I’ve been helping out with the music there for some time and have become very attached to the popular — and intense! — meditation sessions held on Monday evenings in the grotto chapel.)

There are also creative opportunities for instrumentalists. These includes organists, but other instruments will be used in imaginative ways, as well, so share with me any ideas or ambitions you may have. And, as I said, tell your friends who are looking for this kind of outlet as well. (One guy who has been helping out lately, and is a chant enthusiast and adept, is also a major lute-player. That’s going to sound great under the dome of Notre Dame!)

So feel free to be in touch: roger@aya.yale.edu or 202-577-5758!

Roger