Music

Overview of Music at Saint Thomas

Each year, the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, under the direction of John Scott, sing at nearly 200 choral worship services, including Choral Liturgies on Sunday mornings, Choral Evensong on Sunday evenings and on many Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings (September through May). The choir also sings at special liturgies throughout the year, including the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday (pictured above).

We are delighted to welcome visitors from all over the world to these worship services. We hope you will join us during your next visit to New York City. If you are unable to worship with us in person, you may do so via the webcasts from your home.

In addition to playing at all choral worship services, our fine organists give recitals throughout the year, and we welcome dozens of visiting organists to participate in our Sunday Organ Recital Series, which occurs most Sundays (September through May) at 5:15pm, following Choral Evensong.

Our Choir of Men and Boys, often accompanied by instrumentalists and the organists, sings an outstanding series of concerts each year, including annual performances of Handel's Messiah. You may buy tickets, or even better, you can ensure the maintanence and growth of the concert series by first joining Friends of Music and then receiving complimentary concert tickets according to your level of membership.

All of our music offerings are dependent on our organs. Our Great Organ is currently in a perilous state and we must soon replace it. Please read more and then consider a gift to the capital campaign.

2013 Choirmasters Conference

Please join us for this years Choirmasters Conference, featuring Dr Christopher Robinson, on May 5-7. Complete details as well as a registration form may be found here.

Last Concert of the Season

Join us for the final concert of the 2012-13 season on Thursday, May 16 at 7:30pm. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys sing music of Bach, Tallis and Vaughan Williams. Read more and order tickets here.

Many Thanks! March Concert Raises Thousands

On March 11, 2013 Bach Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki, conductor) joined with John Scott to hold a benefit concert, Music of J.S Bach, to raise funds for the victims who continue to suffer in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan and Hurricane Sandy in New York. In addition to enjoying Bach’s glorious music which was beautifully performed, the audience heard moving remarks by Japan’s Consul General in New York, Ambassador Shugeyuki Hiroki, and by Alan Gilbert, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic.

The concert raised $13,864--proceeds were distributed evenly to two charities. Tohoku Help in Miyagi, Japan, received $6,932 to aid local organizations serving individuals in the regions hardest hit by the tsunami. In New York, Episcopal Charities received the same amount. To quote from the April 22, 2013 letter of thanks from their Executive Director, Mary Beth Sasso: “Your thoughtful contribution will help support programs that are helping those working to recover and rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. We continue to fulfill requests from parishes whose communities require disaster-related assistance. Our Director of Programs, The Rev. Sam Smith is working closely with others in the Diocese and beyond to ensure that longer-range impacts are also considered as affected areas continue the process of recovery….Our thanks go out to everyone involved with the benefit concert.”

Two New Assistant Organists

We are pleased to announce that Stephen Buzard and Benjamin Sheen will soon join the staff of Saint Thomas Church and Choir School as Assistant Organists. Both Stephen and Ben are of a similar generation. Stephen is currently Organ Scholar of Trinity Church-on-the-Green in New Haven, CT and is just finishing his MMus at Yale. Ben has been our Acting Assistant Organist since November and finishes his MMus at Juilliard School in May. We are delighted that they both have accepted the invitation to join the staff, full-time, after the completion of their studies.

John Scott Discusses the Vierne CD

Above: John Scott discusses our new CD, Vierne at Saint Thomas, in the video above. Click through to read more, listen to sample clips, and order your copy.

Recent Reviews

• Fanfare May/June 2013 reviews our Fauré Requiem CD here.
  
•  New York Times reviews our Passiontide concert for 2012 here.

• See five reviews of our CD O Sing unto Lord here.

• The New York Times reviews the 2011 Messiah Concert, here.

• The Dallas Morning News reviews a choir tour, here.

Music Office Staff

John Scott, Organist and Director of Music
Benjamin Sheen, Acting Assistant Organist

Laurel Scarozza, Music Office Coordinator
Judith Moore, Music Librarian
Jacki Slater, Concert Series Manager
Claudette Mayer, Concert Series Coordinator

We welcome your music inquires by email to music@SaintThomasChurch.org
For concert inquiries, please email concerts@SaintThomasChurch.org

See also:
Organist Bios
Who's Who
Contact Us