Music
Committee Report
This past year began with the choir not having permanent director for the first time in many years. Barbara Wagner served in that position for over 50 years but suffered a serious stroke during the week before Music Sunday. Jennifer Mernitz, our soprano soloist and section leader, was asked to lead the choir and musicians in a performance of Conrad Susa’s Lessons and Carols on December 2, 2012. Barbara had prepared the choir to perform the piece throughout the fall. After the new year, our skilled and flexible musicians made adjustments so the Jennifer and Monica Stankiewicz, our alto soloist and section leader, shared the conducting responsibilities and Paula McGirr stepped up to cover for both Jennifer and Monica, depending on who was directing the choir that week. Chris Sierzchula was hired to accompany the choir.
From January 31 to February 3rd, Mark Slegers, the minister of music at the UU Church of Portland, Oregon, came to consult with the church. Barbara had suggested inviting him before her stroke to help us with the transition to a new music director after her planned retirement in the spring. Mark met with the choir, the board, and the entire congregation to help us focus on how we could support the strong music program after Barbara retired. His report was shared with the congregation and adopted by the board.
On February 9th the choir organized a very successful Mardi Gras dinner for Valentine’s Day and raised over $4000 for the church.
On March 24th the choir hired Ansgar Aylward, the assistant concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, to lead a chamber orchestra of 24 BPO musicians to accompany them in a performance of Bach’s Magnificat for our spring Music Sunday. For many years Barbara Wagner led the choir in the performance of different Magnificats each winter. Before her stroke she was considering doing a reprise of some of her favorite choruses from Bach’s cantatas for her last Music Sunday. When it became apparent that she would not be able to conduct us, we decided to bring these two strands together in a special tribute to her.
In the spring a search committee comprised of Martha Malkiewicz, Diane Bockrath, Joyce Bol, Megan French, Kimberly Yousey-Elsener, Phil Nicolai, and Rev. Margret O”Neall began working on finding a new music director. Daniel Bassin, the director of the University at Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, was offered the position and joined the staff on August 1st. Daniel is also a composer and concert trumpetist and immediately started planning an ambitious program for the coming year. The December Music Sunday included both Ralph Vaughan-Williams Fantasia on a Christmas Theme and Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. In a recent interview on WBEN Daniel remarked that when he stepped into the job in August he discovered an old vinyl LP that Barbara Wagner and the choir recorded in 1981, the year he was born. The last track was one of the movements of Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. Since Daniel Bassin was a student of Daniel Pinkham at the New England Conservatory of Music, it seem only natural to include the piece in his first Music Sunday program.
One of Mark Sleger’s recommendations to the church, which is congruent with the changes in governance that the board is adopting, was to create a separate choir team to distinguish it from a church-wide music team. The music committee is in the process of being phased out. The choir team is being chaired by Kirsten Andersen. The music team is still in formation. It will include staff members and volunteers representing different constituencies of our church community.
In the fall another search committee composed of Daniel Bassin, Diane Bockrath, Phil Nicolai, and Rev. Margret O’Neall began the work of hiring an organist/accompanist and Su Lee joined the staff in October. She is a doctoral student in music composition at the University at Buffalo and is a very skillful keyboardist and musician.
On January 19, 2014 Daniel directed the choir and a chamber orchestra of 26 Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra musicians in the regional premiere of Kyle Gann’s Transcendental Sonnets. The composer, another of Daniel’s teachers, came to the performance and spoke to the audience about how he took the poetry of the transcendental poet, Jones Very, and put it in settings that represented different expressions of American music. The concert was the inaugural event for the Barbara Wagner Music Tribute Fund and was a great success. Over $7000 was raised for the fund, whose mission is to strengthen the music program in the church. It was created by the Board of Trustees and we are hopeful that, over the years, it will be a vehicle for people to honor Barbara’s legacy of bringing beautiful music to our sanctuary.
This coming February 8th the choir will again present another Valentine’s Day dinner as a fundraiser for the church. The theme is " A Midwinter Night's Revels -- Feasting, Frolics and Fa La Las." Set designer Michele Costa will be weaving her magic in ways that would be worthy of any banquet table in middle earth and impresario Michael Harris will be assembling a cast of entertainers that will add to everyone’s enjoyment. Chefs Jeff Lowry and Tracey Kassman will again be preparing the food to this feast and all profits will go to the general fund to support the work of our church.
On March 30 the choir will sing Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Job Cantata, another regional premiere, as part of our spring Music Sunday.
This has been a very busy and occasionally stressful year for the choir but we have come out of this transitional period in a strong position and look forward to serving the needs of the congregation and our community with a deep appreciation for the legacy Barbara left us and the commitment and energy that Daniel has brought to us.
Phil Nicolai,
Music Committee Chair
This past year began with the choir not having permanent director for the first time in many years. Barbara Wagner served in that position for over 50 years but suffered a serious stroke during the week before Music Sunday. Jennifer Mernitz, our soprano soloist and section leader, was asked to lead the choir and musicians in a performance of Conrad Susa’s Lessons and Carols on December 2, 2012. Barbara had prepared the choir to perform the piece throughout the fall. After the new year, our skilled and flexible musicians made adjustments so the Jennifer and Monica Stankiewicz, our alto soloist and section leader, shared the conducting responsibilities and Paula McGirr stepped up to cover for both Jennifer and Monica, depending on who was directing the choir that week. Chris Sierzchula was hired to accompany the choir.
From January 31 to February 3rd, Mark Slegers, the minister of music at the UU Church of Portland, Oregon, came to consult with the church. Barbara had suggested inviting him before her stroke to help us with the transition to a new music director after her planned retirement in the spring. Mark met with the choir, the board, and the entire congregation to help us focus on how we could support the strong music program after Barbara retired. His report was shared with the congregation and adopted by the board.
On February 9th the choir organized a very successful Mardi Gras dinner for Valentine’s Day and raised over $4000 for the church.
On March 24th the choir hired Ansgar Aylward, the assistant concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, to lead a chamber orchestra of 24 BPO musicians to accompany them in a performance of Bach’s Magnificat for our spring Music Sunday. For many years Barbara Wagner led the choir in the performance of different Magnificats each winter. Before her stroke she was considering doing a reprise of some of her favorite choruses from Bach’s cantatas for her last Music Sunday. When it became apparent that she would not be able to conduct us, we decided to bring these two strands together in a special tribute to her.
In the spring a search committee comprised of Martha Malkiewicz, Diane Bockrath, Joyce Bol, Megan French, Kimberly Yousey-Elsener, Phil Nicolai, and Rev. Margret O”Neall began working on finding a new music director. Daniel Bassin, the director of the University at Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, was offered the position and joined the staff on August 1st. Daniel is also a composer and concert trumpetist and immediately started planning an ambitious program for the coming year. The December Music Sunday included both Ralph Vaughan-Williams Fantasia on a Christmas Theme and Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. In a recent interview on WBEN Daniel remarked that when he stepped into the job in August he discovered an old vinyl LP that Barbara Wagner and the choir recorded in 1981, the year he was born. The last track was one of the movements of Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. Since Daniel Bassin was a student of Daniel Pinkham at the New England Conservatory of Music, it seem only natural to include the piece in his first Music Sunday program.
One of Mark Sleger’s recommendations to the church, which is congruent with the changes in governance that the board is adopting, was to create a separate choir team to distinguish it from a church-wide music team. The music committee is in the process of being phased out. The choir team is being chaired by Kirsten Andersen. The music team is still in formation. It will include staff members and volunteers representing different constituencies of our church community.
In the fall another search committee composed of Daniel Bassin, Diane Bockrath, Phil Nicolai, and Rev. Margret O’Neall began the work of hiring an organist/accompanist and Su Lee joined the staff in October. She is a doctoral student in music composition at the University at Buffalo and is a very skillful keyboardist and musician.
On January 19, 2014 Daniel directed the choir and a chamber orchestra of 26 Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra musicians in the regional premiere of Kyle Gann’s Transcendental Sonnets. The composer, another of Daniel’s teachers, came to the performance and spoke to the audience about how he took the poetry of the transcendental poet, Jones Very, and put it in settings that represented different expressions of American music. The concert was the inaugural event for the Barbara Wagner Music Tribute Fund and was a great success. Over $7000 was raised for the fund, whose mission is to strengthen the music program in the church. It was created by the Board of Trustees and we are hopeful that, over the years, it will be a vehicle for people to honor Barbara’s legacy of bringing beautiful music to our sanctuary.
This coming February 8th the choir will again present another Valentine’s Day dinner as a fundraiser for the church. The theme is " A Midwinter Night's Revels -- Feasting, Frolics and Fa La Las." Set designer Michele Costa will be weaving her magic in ways that would be worthy of any banquet table in middle earth and impresario Michael Harris will be assembling a cast of entertainers that will add to everyone’s enjoyment. Chefs Jeff Lowry and Tracey Kassman will again be preparing the food to this feast and all profits will go to the general fund to support the work of our church.
On March 30 the choir will sing Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Job Cantata, another regional premiere, as part of our spring Music Sunday.
This has been a very busy and occasionally stressful year for the choir but we have come out of this transitional period in a strong position and look forward to serving the needs of the congregation and our community with a deep appreciation for the legacy Barbara left us and the commitment and energy that Daniel has brought to us.
Phil Nicolai,
Music Committee Chair