Music at St. Matthias
Do you love music? You will be in good company at St. Matthias. In a typical Sunday service, we enjoy a lot of singing in a range of styles - we include both hymns that have been around long enough for people with church backgrounds to know them well and sing heartily, and newer songs that foreground our changing views on how to look after one another, and be good stewards of the earth. We also enjoy accompaniment on both piano and organ, and sometimes other instruments, such as guitar and flute, and we are blessed to have a dedicated choir.
Chancel Choir
The established adult SABT choir is chamber size and growing. We meet on Sunday mornings in the church hall at 8:50 to warm up and prepare hymns and anthems for the 10 am service.
Is this choir for you? Currently, we rehearse one mid-month Thursday evening at 7:30 in the Sanctuary. The repertoire we sing varies widely in both style and challenge level, including 16th Century, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Folk, Jazz, Gospel and recently composed; from challenging to easy, 4-part or more to 2-part. Our approach is relaxed and fun, but our presentation is formal, including wearing choir gowns and processing into the church. We have members with musical training and members who learn by rote: all are welcome. If you want to try it out, contact our director. Or, if you know your voice type, simply come to a rehearsal. You may also choose to join us for those anthems that interest you most.
Joyful Noise Children’s Choir
We have participants aged 3 to 13 in this, our first year. Children grace our services with their voices approximately once a month, at the beginning of the service before going to Sunday School. Our age range has meant so far, the songs have been easy unisons. We have some very able older singers, so look for changes to the structure and rehearsal schedule (currently pre-arranged Sundays) to include part-singing. Is your child a singer? Contact our music director to see where he or she will fit. And stay tuned for those changes, coming in autumn.
Guest Musicians and Concerts
Our church hosts guest musicians on Sunday mornings about once a month. Our congregation enjoys hearing a variety of instrumentation and ability levels while giving young performers experience, and more seasoned performers an opportunity to preview upcoming concerts. This year, we hosted a large group from the Canadian College of Performing Arts, an amateur choir, a professional flutist, a semi-professional singer, a singer from our in-house production of Jesus Christ Super Star, advanced student pianists, and student euphonium players in our services. Our Music Director arranges most of these guests, so please contact her, or the office, about playing either during a service or organizing a concert in our facilities.