Music at St. James

St. James has a passion for music, the arts, and cultural understanding through the arts. The church has a long tradition of musical appreciation and performance through community building activities, interfaith and cross-township connections.

St. James has a flourishing choir for its 10am service, led by one music director who serves as both choral director and church organist. 

The Music Director of St. James has had extensive experience in music leadership in church communities with a Bachelors in music and a Master of arts in teaching. Our Adult Choir is composed of 10-14 members who are a passionate and committed part of the community and worship experience of St. James. The choir sings weekly and rehearses on Wednesday evenings.  Our choir regularly shares their gifts and love of music and community with surrounding churches, organizations, schools, and retirement homes from Bennington to Manchester.

The music program is growing in community outreach, music literacy and diversity of material. The musical selections range from spirituals, compositions from the community and contemporary music to traditional music found in our extensive music library. Our music spans several centuries and we hope to increase awareness through this diversity of selections. Our service music also encourages awareness through innovative and exciting variety. For example, last Lenten season we introduced a South African Kyrie for the season. Recently, the church has brought in several members of the community (including students from local colleges and high schools) to share in our music worship on Sundays and at other fun events. St. James not only encourages singers from the community to worship with us, we have also had guest brass quartets, violinists, and Peabody trained soloists on holidays.

The music program at St. James pairs professional expectations with a warm learning experience that encourages deep friendships and understanding through our music worship. We are always looking to encourage those around us to share in our singing and we look to enhance the worship experience for those who choose not to sing.
Future goals for our music program are to increase participation in our choir, to develop a youth choir,  and to continue to introduce new musical events that draw together members of this parish and our surrounding community. We welcome your participation!