Reformation Hymn Festival
October 30, 2011, 3:00pm
Celebrate Reformation Sunday in Lutheran Style
This hymn festival on Reformation Sunday will focus on hymns by reformers from the 16th century and the present day. Classic German hymns such as "A Mighty Fortress" will be juxtaposed with modern hymns to explore how the church is still being reformed today. There will also be organ and choir music, and all the hymns will be dressed in their Sunday best, led by the Adult Choir and Guitar Group of First Lutheran Church, with Director of Music Brian Wentzel at the organ and piano. Music by Pachelbel, M. Praetorius, and Hassler will be performed, as well as the world-premiere of a concertato on "Salvation unto Us Has Come" written for this occasion by Brian Wentzel.
The modern hymn festival was created by Paul Manz, a Lutheran organist and composer who worked in Minneapolis and Chicago. A hymn festival is a kind of cross between a worship service and a concert. Hymns are presented in elaborate arrangements, usually with choral leadership, and organ music also usually plays a large role. But the "audience" is expected to sing along, becoming a sort of congregation. Reflective readings between the songs help to tie everything together.
Brian Wentzel, FAGO, is First Lutheran's Director of Music and will be leading this hymn festival: playing the organ and piano, directing the choir, arranging the hymns, and writing the reflections. He has studied with some of the finest hymn festival presenters of today, including John Ferguson and David Cherwien, and presents hymn festivals at least once a year at First Lutheran.
This hymn festival is free and open to the public. It is part of First Lutheran's FIRST•music concert series, whose goal comes from the church's vision statement: to "use our musical resources to enhance our experience of God and as a gift to the community."
