Sewanee Church Music Conference

The 52nd annual Sewanee Church Music Conference was held July 15-21 at DuBose Conference Center in Mont-eagle, Tennessee and at the University of the South in Sewanee. Filled to capacity, the conference attracted 159 organists, choir directors, and choristers from 23 states. Dr. Robert Delcamp, Professor of Music at the University of the South, planned and directed the conference. Malcolm Archer, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral, and Peter Richard Conte, Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia and also Organist and Choirmaster of St. Clement's Episcopal Church, headed the conference faculty. The Rev. Dr. Joe Burnett, Professor of Pastoral Theology, School of Theology, University of the South, led the daily services and in a series of lectures explored tensions arising in parishes and added possible solutions for impossible people.

Malcolm Archer presented aspects of the English choral tradition as well as giving practical advice on putting together a service very quickly. James Brinson led several sessions on the Episcopal Church for musicians who are new to the church. Keith Shafer had two sessions on chanting the psalms. Anthem-reading sessions were conducted by Archer, Jason Abel, and Donald Dupee, Jr. Also, an impressive display and reading session were directed by Mark Schweizer of St. James Music Press.

Peter Conte held a variety of workshops devoted to playing the organ. Besides the masterclasses, there were sessions on hymn playing, anthem accompaniment, and improvisation. David Davies, a young Welshman currently the Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, played a stunning organ recital in All Saints' Chapel. The program included works by Bach, Gigout, Mozart, Cocker, Howells, and Vierne and ended with an overwhelming improvisation for an encore.

All Saints' Chapel provided the setting for the major services of the week. The Choral Evensong on Thursday evening used Dyson's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D and Parry's monumental anthem, Blest Pair of Sirens. At the Sunday service, Schubert's German Mass was sung to the liturgy. Music composed by Archer and commissioned by the conference was premiered--the organ voluntary Variations on King's Lynn and the anthem Bread of the World. The centerpiece anthem was O How Glorious Is the Kingdom by Harwood. Brass and percussion added festive flair to this anthem and to hymns throughout the service. Archer was the conductor, Conte was the organist, and all conferees formed the massive choir for both services.

--Mary Fisher Landrum

Mary Fisher Landrum, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Vassar College and did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Harold Gleason. She has served as college organist and a member of the music faculty at Austin College, Sherman, Texas; Sullins College, Milligan College, and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. For a third of a century she was organist/choir director at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Bristol, Tennessee.

Church musicians from 24 states and the Virgin Islands participated in the 55th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference July 12–18 at Dubose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee. Robert Delcamp, professor of music, University of the South, planned and directed the conference.
Heading the faculty were Bruce Neswick, organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta; Harold Pysher, associate to the rector for music and liturgy at The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, Palm Beach, Florida; and the Rev. James F. Turrell, assistant professor of liturgics and the history of liturgics at the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee.
In a variety of workshops Dr. Neswick covered plainchant and Anglican chant techniques while Dr. Pysher demonstrated hymn playing as well as anthem and psalm accompaniment. Keith Shafer, director and organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Augusta, Georgia, discussed Episcopal basics that were especially helpful for those who are new in the Episcopal Church. Shafer also presented new psalm settings. Mark Schweizer of St. James Press, Shafer, and Neswick led anthem-reading sessions. Neswick also demonstrated choir training and audition techniques with choristers from the Blair Children’s Chorus of Vanderbilt University and choristers from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville.
Dr. Turrell led the daily services using Rites I and II and various musical settings of liturgy. Pysher and Neswick accompanied the services on the organ. Turrell also presented a series of lectures on such topics as “Singing a New Song: Church Music & the Renewal of Liturgy” and “The Seven Deadly Liturgical Sins (and what a church musician can do about them.)”
Two organ recitals were highlights of the week. Pysher and Neswick performed on both, the first being played on the recently enlarged Casavant in All Saints’ Chapel at the University of the South. The second recital was held in the Chapel of the Apostles at the School of Theology in Sewanee. Its focus was on hymns, sung by the audience and each followed by a solo work, an improvisation, or an organ duet based on the hymn.
The 153 conferees formed the choir for two services in All Saints’ Chapel. Evensong used George Dyson’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The anthem, “Christ, mighty Savior,” by Craig Phillips was commissioned for this conference and sung during Evensong. Another commissioned work was Michael Burkhardt’s set of organ variations on the hymntune “Hanover.”
In the university service on Sunday morning Schubert’s Mass in C provided the settings of texts for the Holy Eucharist. The anthem at the Offertory, “Intende voci orationis,” was also composed by Schubert. All these settings had orchestral accompaniment.
Bruce Neswick composed the setting of the psalm. The service was framed by Widor’s Andante sostenuto from the Gothic Symphony and Guilmant’s Allegro vivace from Sonata No. 2 played by Pysher. Pysher was the organist for the service, and Neswick directed the choir. The service concluded with the ringing of the bells of the Leonidas Polk Memorial Carillon.

Mary Fisher Landrum, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Vassar College and did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Harold Gleason. She has served as college organist and a member of the music faculty at Austin College, Sherman, Texas; Sullins College, Milligan College, and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. For a third of a century she was organist/choir director at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Bristol, Tennessee.

Church musicians from 26 states participated in the 54th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference July 12-18 at DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee, and at the University of the South in Sewanee. Keith Shafer, director of music and organist of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Augusta, Georgia, planned and directed the conference.

Heading the conference faculty were Malcolm Archer, newly appointed organist and master of the choristers at St. Paul's Cathedral, London; Huw Lewis, chair of the music department and college organist at Hope College, Holland, Michigan; and Iain Quinn, director of music of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford, Connecticut. The Rev. Dr. Susanna Metz, assistant professor at the School of Theology, Sewanee, served as chaplain and lecturer.

In a variety of workshops Archer and Lewis covered anthem, psalm, and plainchant accompaniment as well as Anglican chanting. Quinn discussed Episcopal basics that were especially helpful for those who are new in the Episcopal Church. Mark Schweizer of St. James Press, Quinn, and Archer led anthem-reading sessions. For two afternoons Archer demonstrated techniques of choir training with the 22-voice Canterbury Choir of St. Paul's in Augusta, Georgia.

Dr. Metz led the daily services and in a series of lectures focused on the ritual, liturgy, and ministry of small churches. Archer composed The Sewanee Service used at the daily services for which Quinn was the organist.

Two organ recitals were highlights of the week. Lewis played the newly renovated and enlarged Casavant in All Saints' Chapel at the University of the South. Quinn performed on the new Casavant in the Chapel of the Apostles at the School of Theology in Sewanee.

The 155 conferees formed the choir for two services in All Saints' Chapel. Evensong used an Anglican chant setting for the psalm and Stanford in A for the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. An exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience occurred when the choir for the anthem was rearranged into eight choirs, each with five voice parts, to sing Tallis's monumental 40-voice polychoral motet, Spem in alium, conducted by Archer.

The University Service on Sunday morning used Archer's Sewanee Service for the setting of texts for The Holy Eucharist. K. Lee Scott, commissioned by the Sewanee Church Music Conference, composed the offertory anthem, A Hymne to Christ, using an extensive text by John Donne and accompanied by organ and brass. Scott attended rehearsals and the Sunday service.

Also commissioned by the conference was Andrew Clarke's organ work, Chorale Prelude on the hymn tune Munich, played during communion. The hymns were sung to organ and brass accompaniments by Roland Martin, Eberhard Ramm, and Sterling Proctor. Malcolm Archer was the conductor and Huw Lewis was the organist for both services in All Saints' Chapel.

Mary Fisher Landrum, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Vassar College and did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Harold Gleason. She has served as college organist and a member of the music faculty at Austin College, Sherman, Texas; Sullins College, Milligan College, and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. For a third of a century she was organist/choir director at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Bristol, Virginia.

Church musicians from 32 states, the Virgin Islands, and Barbados gathered on the mountain at DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee, for the 57th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference July 9–15. Keith Shafer, director of music and organist of St. Paul’s Church in Augusta, Georgia, planned and directed the conference. Heading the faculty were Gerre Hancock and Judith Hancock, now on the faculty of the University of Texas in Austin. Serving as conference chaplain was Dennis R. Maynard, priest, rector, preacher and writer from Rancho Mirage, California.
The first day of the conference began with registration and ended with Evening Prayer, led by Dr. Maynard, who was also the officiant for the daily morning eucharists. The Hancocks were organists for the services that used Rites I and II with various musical settings of the liturgies. The psalms were set to Anglican chant, a topic that was discussed with plainchant by Gerre Hancock in one of his classes.
In other classes he demonstrated “Leading the Hymns with Conviction and Verve,” “Improvisation for the Timid and Meek of Heart,” and “An Anthem from Start to Finish.” Judith Hancock held a class on organ repertoire and a class on “The Choral and Organ Works of William Mathias.” Both Hancocks collaborated in two sessions on “Conducting the Choir,” and led organ masterclasses featuring music of Jean Langlais, Nicholas Bruhns and Dieterich Buxtehude, played on the Casavant in the Chapel of the Apostles on the Sewanee campus by organists attending the conference.
Dr. Maynard gave a series of lectures that touched the nerve of current Episcopalian issues such as, “Do you really think that you’re an Anglican?” and “How can we respond to the Biblical Fundamentalist?”, “Are the Schismatics the Faithful Remnant or Contemporary Pharisees?” and “Where’s the forgiveness in the Church?”
Adjunct faculty led a variety of classes. Larry Marchese of Sibelius Software talked about music publishing software. Susan Rupert, vocal professor at the University of the South and School of Theology, presented Episcopal basics for those new to the Episcopal Church.
Reading sessions enriched the conference program. These were led by Mark Schweizer, editor of the St. James Music Press; Celia Tolar-Bane, director of music and organist of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina; Donald E. Dupee, Jr., director of music and organist of St. Thaddeus Church, Aiken, South Carolina; and Robert Delcamp, Professor of Music, University Organist and Chair of the Music Department of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
A highlight of the week was the organ recital played by Judith and Gerre Hancock in All Saints’ Chapel of the University of the South. Judith Hancock opened the program with the Praeludium in A-Moll, Bux WV 153 by Dieterich Buxtehude, and also played Guilmant’s Sonata in C Minor. The charming Duett for Organ (1812) by Samuel Wesley was played by both Judith and Gerre Hancock. The program was rounded out with Gerre Hancock’s stunning improvisation on the submitted theme, “Rosedale” by Leo Sowerby.
The 150 conferees formed the choir for two services in All Saints’ Chapel. Evensong used Sowerby’s Magnificat in D and Nunc dimittis in D, preceded by his Eternal Light for the introit. Eternal Light also began the service as Gerre Hancock improvised on it during the procession. The preces, responses, Lord’s Prayer and collects were sung by the choir to settings by Gerre Hancock. The Phos Hilaron was sung to Charles E. Wood’s Hail, gladdening light. Psalm 37 was set to Anglican chant by E. F. Day and George Thalben-Ball. The anthem was Psalm 122 by Sowerby. The voluntary concluding the service was played by Gerre Hancock, who improvised on “St. Clement,” the tune of the last hymn.
In the festival eucharist university service in All Saints’ Chapel on Sunday morning, Craig Phillips’s Festival Eucharist provided the settings of texts from the liturgy. Psalm 25 was sung to an Anglican chant by George Thalben-Ball. The offertory anthem was Gerre Hancock’s Christ Our Passover. Richard Shephard’s motet, O Thou Before the World Began, and Roland E. Martin’s anthem, Love on My Heart, were sung at the communion. Both were composed for the 57th Sewanee church music conference, as was Triptych on “At the Name of Jesus” (King’s Weston) by William Bates. Triptych was played by Gerre Hancock as a prelude to the service. He also played the concluding voluntary, an extensive and elaborate improvisation on “Ora Labora,” which was the last hymn of the service. Participating in both services were Gerre Hancock, Judith Hancock and Dennis Maynard.

Mary Fisher Landrum, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Vassar College and did graduate work at the Eastman School of Music as a student of Harold Gleason. She has served as college organist and a member of the music faculty at Austin College, Sherman, Texas; Sullins College, Milligan College, and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. For a third of a century she was organist/choir director at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Bristol, Tennessee.

Church musicians from 27 states and the Virgin Islands gathered on the mountain at DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee, for the 56th annual Sewanee Church Music Conference July 10–16. Robert Delcamp, Professor of Music, University Organist and Choirmaster of the University of the South, planned and directed the conference. Heading the faculty were Jeffrey Smith, Canon Director of Music of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; Peter Richard Conte, Grand Court Organist of the Wanamaker Organ at Lord & Taylor, Philadelphia and organist-choirmaster of St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia; and The Rt. Rev. Joe G. Burnett, Bishop of Nebraska and conference chaplain.
The conference opened with evening prayer led by Bishop Burnett, who was also the officiant for the daily Eucharists with psalms. Peter Richard Conte and Jeffrey Smith were organists for the services that used Rites I and II with various settings of the canticles and different types of chant for the psalms. These different types of chanting the psalms and issues concerning their performance were the focus of two classes held by Dr. Smith. He also presented two sessions offering practical suggestions for founding, reinvigorating and polishing children’s choirs. Bishop Burnett shed light on three profound reforms that are at the heart of the 1979 Prayer Book. And Mr. Conte took a fresh look at creative hymn playing by drawing inspiration from the poetry of hymns. He also held a crash course for beginners in improvisation for service playing and presented two classes devoted to accompanying.
Adjunct faculty led a variety of classes and reading sessions. Wendy Klopfenstein, principal violinist with the Mobile Opera Orchestra, the Mobile Symphony and the Pensacola Symphony, discussed the process of hiring strings to augment one’s music program. The discussion included how to deal with a contractor, conducting strings vs. choral conducting, payment, rehearsal times and length, and other considerations. Ms. Klopfenstein also gave a presentation on working with small churches. Susan Rupert, vocal professor at The University of the South and The School of Theology, led classes in vocal techniques for choir directors and Episcopal basics for those new to the Episcopal Church.
Reading sessions enriched the conference program. These were led by Jane Gamble, Canon Organist-Choirmaster of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Memphis; John Spain, organist at St. Anne Episcopal Church in the Cincinnati suburb of West Chester; and Jennifer Stammers, soprano soloist, composer, music teacher and choir director at Trinity Episcopal Church, Atchison, Kansas. Mark Schweizer, composer, bass soloist and editor of St. James Music Press, presented recently published choral works, and Thomas Pavlechko, cantor, composer in residence and organist-choir director at St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas, showed two hymn collections published by the new publishing company, E-Libris Publishers, based in Memphis.
A highlight of the week was the organ recital played by Conte in All Saints’ Chapel of the University of the South. The program featured many of Conte’s transcriptions—Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide,” Kreisler’s Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Cortège et Litanie transcribed from Dupré’s orchestral score, William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Haydn, ending with a transcription of Rossini’s Overture to “The Barber of Seville.” Conte provided a rare treat later in the week when he accompanied the showing of the silent film The Kid, featuring Charlie Chaplin.
The 130 conferees formed the choir for two services in All Saints’ Chapel. Evensong featured George Dyson’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D preceded by Barry Smith’s African Versicles and Responses. Psalm 139 was set to an Anglican chant by Thomas A. Walmisle, and the anthem was Edward Bairstow’s monumental Blessed City, Heavenly Salem. The service was framed by two voluntaries—Choral by Jongen and Franck’s Pièce Héroïque.
In the Festival University Service on Sunday morning Jeffrey Smith’s Mass in C provided the settings of texts for the Holy Eucharist. Psalm 85 was sung to an Anglican chant by Herbert Howells. The offertory anthem was Charles Wood’s O Thou sweetest Source of gladness, and during Communion the commissioned anthem, Jesu, the very thought of Thee by David Briggs, was sung. The organ prelude to the service was the Allegro maestoso from Sonata in G by Elgar. The postlude was “Marche Pontificale” from Symphony No. 1 by Widor, played by Conte and followed by the ringing of the bells of the Leonidas Polk Memorial Carillon.
Participating in both services were Jeffrey Smith, conductor; Peter Richard Conte, organist; and The Rt. Rev. Joe G. Burnett. Bishop of Nebraska.

Jane Scharding Smedley has served as organist-choirmaster at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Memphis, Tennessee since 1980. She earned bachelor’s (Rhodes College) and master’s (Wittenberg University) degrees in sacred music, and holds the Colleague and Choirmaster certificates from the American Guild of Organists. Her teachers included David Ramsey, Tony Lee Garner, Frederick Jackisch, and Richard White. An attendee at the Sewanee Church Music Conference since 1979, she currently serves as secretary of the board of directors.

Since 1951, the Sewanee Church Music Conference has offered a rich musical and spiritual experience to musicians who serve primarily in Episcopal churches. Each July, approximately 150 organists, choirmasters, and choristers make their way to the DuBose Conference Center in Monteagle, Tennessee, to refresh their skills, learn new insights, and renew friendships with colleagues. A family-reunion atmosphere pervades the weeklong gathering, where first-time attendees are warmly welcomed by those who return every year to the “holy mountain.”

Reverend James Turrell, from the School of Theology at the University of the South in nearby Sewanee, Tennessee, was conference chaplain. The parable of the steward who brings forth both old and new from the storeroom inspired his explorations of the liturgical renewal, inculturation of the liturgy, and the valuable role of musicians in bringing forth both old and new treasures from the storeroom of the Episcopal heritage.

Tom Foster and Janette Fishell served as the music faculty and were a superb team. They alternated as conductors and organists for the two major liturgies of the conference: Friday Evensong and Sunday Eucharist, both sung in All Saints’ Chapel on the Sewanee campus. Along with Reverend Turrell, they provided leadership at the carefully planned daily Eucharists, an important part of the week for many.
Foster, well known for his work at All Saints’, Beverly Hills, until retirement in 2003, last appeared at the conference in 1984. He has served as interim musician in various Episcopal parishes and is now Parish Musician at the Church of the Epiphany in Seattle. Janette Fishell, Professor of Organ at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, was making her first appearance at the conference. Dr. Fishell performed in recital on the Casavant in All Saints’ Chapel, taking us on a musical tour of Prague, London, and Paris, through pieces by Petr Eben, Herbert Howells, and Widor.

Through choral rehearsals, workshops on psalmody, practice techniques, service playing, and an organ masterclass, Foster and Fishell brought forth both new approaches and affirmed older methods from their vast musical backgrounds. Worship repertoire included anthems by Richard Shepherd, Craig Phillips, Malcolm Boyle, and Phillip Wilby. Richard Webster’s Mass in Lydian Mode was sung in the daily liturgies as well as on Sunday. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis at Evensong were from David Hogan’s St. Alban’s Service. An a cappella setting of Psalm 23 by former SCMC faculty Jeffrey Smith was particularly lovely. This year’s commissioned work for organ, Fanfare and Variations on “Merton” by James Biery, was premiered by Dr. Fishell.

Choral reading sessions were presented by Elizabeth Smith (Lois Fyfe Music) and Jane Scharding Smedley (St. Peter Roman Catholic Church, Memphis). A detailed yet practical session on handbell techniques and repertoire was led by Richard Moore (St. Edward’s Episcopal, Lawrenceville, Georgia). Susan Rupert (University of the South) offered sessions on “Episcopal Basics.” Keith Shafer (St. Paul’s Episcopal, Augusta, Georgia) shared organ repertoire based on hymn tunes. Music displays were provided by Lois Fyfe Music, St. James Music Press, Church Music Services, and Calvin Taylor.

The Conference Board of Directors places high importance on each year’s offerings meeting the needs of those in attendance. Surveys are taken to guide the content of future programs and choice of faculty.
Delicious meals and comfortable accommodations are found at the DuBose Conference Center in scenic surroundings. Many comment favorably on the reasonable registration fee for a week filled with musical, educational and social events. The Sewanee Conference looks forward to its 60th anniversary in 2010, which will feature returning faculty Malcolm Archer (Winchester College, UK) and Peter Richard Conte (Wanamaker Organist, Philadelphia). Reverend Dr. Joe Burnett, Bishop of Nebraska, will return as chaplain. For more information on the Sewanee Church Music Conference, contact Dr. Robert Delcamp: [email protected] or Keith Shafer: [email protected].

Photo credit: John Whitmer, Birmingham, Alabama © 2009