ST. JAMES SCHOOL CHOIR TO PERFORM APRIL 14
The Friends of Music will present a special concert in Shepherdstown by the
St. James School Choir the evening of Saturday, April 14.
The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church on West German Street.
There will be no set price for tickets but a donation of $10 per person is suggested. Proceeds from the event will be divided between the Friends of Music and the Trinity Treasure Kids Pre-School.
The Saint James School, which is located outside Hagerstown, was founded in 1842 and is celebrating its 175th Anniversary this year. It is a coeducational boarding school with 240 students. Its students come from 15 states and 16 countries.
Saint James is the oldest Episcopal boarding school based on the Oxford model in the U.S. It remains faithful to its historic identity as a Church school, maintaining the spiritual witness and discipline of regular daily worship, and continuing attention to the spiritual and moral formation of its students.
The School’s Choir is composed of 37 students in Forms III-VI. While the School is in session, the Choir’s singing centers on the twice-weekly services of Holy Eucharist and a student-led service of Compline on Sunday nights. Services of Choral Evensong are sung on and off campus throughout the year.
The Choir also performs special concerts and travels regionally, nationally and internationally. On February 8, they performed at Washington National Cathedral. During this year’s March break, they took a 13-day trip to England, singing Choral Evensong and concerts at Worcester Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral (London), Canterbury Cathedral, and St. Mary’s Collegiate Church in Warwick.
The Choir also recently completed a recording project entitled “There Is No Rose,” which included selections from the annual Service of Lessons and Carols.
St. James’ Headmaster, the Rev. Dr. D. Stuart Dunnan, said the members of the Choir “benefit from the discipline of singing two choral eucharists a week, in addition to their touring and other performances.” “This teaches strong sight-reading skills and creates a very strong, unified sound,” he said.
The Choir director is Linda Morgan Stowe, who is also the School’s organist and Chair of Fine Arts. She holds degrees in organ performance from Southern Methodist University and the Eastman School of Music. She is a medal examiner for the Royal School of Church Music in America, and she has served on the board of the Association of Anglican Musicians.
St. James plans to finish construction on a new music and art facility with a recital hall in spring, 2019.
