Spencerville Evensong Concert Series

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, December 10, 4 p.m.

For two decades, we have presented a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, following in the tradition of the service developed in the early 20th century by the clergy and musicians of King's College, Cambridge. Our service features the nine traditional readings, following the Christmas story from prophecy to the birth of Christ, read by readers of every age and walk of life. One or more carols, sung by the choir and congregation, frame each reading, creating a meaningful service that has become a beloved tradition around the world. The Sanctuary Choir at Spencerville, and the Columbia Collegiate Chorale of Washington Adventist University, conducted by Dr. James Bingham will lead this service, with accompaniment on the organ by Mark Willey and the piano by Mark Di Pinto. This year, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the organ, Mark Willey will play a 30 minute prelude of seasonal organ music, beginning at 3:30 and leading up to the start of the service.

Given the increasing use of e-readers like the iPad and Kindle for books, magazines and other content we thought it would make sense for us to make the program booklet for this service available for download. We like to print all of the readings, the words of the carols and the hymns in the program and this makes for a rather lengthy (32 page) booklet. If you would prefer to use your e-reader instead of taking a program, download the program by clicking on this link and selecting the option to save it to your computer.

Julie Vidrick Evans, November 19

On Saturday, November 19, as part of our continuing celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the organ, Julie Vidrick Evans performed a program of music by Handel, Bach, Mendelssohn, Thalben-Ball, Duruflé and more, An active recitalist and prize-winning organist, Ms. Evans has been a featured soloist with The Washington Bach Consort, Bach Sinfonia, Masterworks Chorus, and Thomas Circle Singers and has performed in cathedrals and concert halls across the U.S. and Eastern Europe. Ms. Evans earned a Master of Music from The Catholic University of America as a student of Wojciech Wojtasiewicz and a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University as a student of Richard McPherson. In addition to holding church positions in the Washington, D.C. area, she has served as Choral Conductor-in-Residence at American University, Washington, D.C. and Associate Conductor of Masterworks Chorus (now The National Philharmonic Chorale). Evans has served the American Guild of Organists as clinician and recitalist and has served as Dean, Trichapter Chair, and Co-Chair of the Committee for New Music and Executive Assistant for the 2010 National AGO Convention. She is currently Director of Music at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C..

Prior to the concert we sat down with Julie to talk with her about some of her experiences playing the organ and about some of the pieces she would be playing on November 19. From this conversation, we made a micro-documentary that you can view here.