Heartwarming turnout for Ramzi and support for the PAUSE project

Sunday, October 20 Westmoreland UCC welcomed an audience of more than 175 people to experience rousing Palestinian music from Ramzi Aburedwan and his Ensemble Dal’ouna, joined by members of the Atlantic Reed Consort and Westmoreland Festival Chorus, to raise funds for the PAUSE Project, enabling Gaza musicians and their families residency in France for cultural preservation work.

This represented a collaboration between Ramzi’s Al Kamandjati - which teaches music to Palestinian children - and Westmoreland’s Middle East Committee, and was presented by Westmoreland’s Concert Series Music @ Westmoreland.

The program was a beautiful mix of traditional Palestinian music, original music from Ramzi and his colleagues, and a few more familiar works reimagined in this idiom. The Da Pacem by Arvo Pärt and the jazz standard Autumn Leaves were comforts to those who knew them, while more traditional tunes like the Song for Freedom had many of the Palestinian audience members in tears.

The central focus, however, was that we came together to raise awareness and funds for the PAUSE project, which will directly benefit 9 Gaza musicians and their families, who will be able to live and work in France for the next year. The French State ministries which support this program cover 60% of the cost, and the rest is up to civil society, so we hope to make significant progress towards making this a reality. Please donate as you’re able.

Many people put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring the production of this concert was covered by sponsors and donors, so that all the money collected could benefit the cause. Even the post-concert meal was offered by the local middle-eastern restaurant Olive on Main - see this impromptu performance that happened during the meal!

Be sure to check Westmoreland’s YouTube for more video content from the concert as it gets produced, and share this article with those who would find it a delight to read and support. Thanks!

UPDATE 10/26 - We’ve recently learned that we raised more than $16,000 for the PAUSE project on the day of the concert! Thank you everyone for your wonderful generosity. There is still time to donate to the project if you know of others who would appreciate the concert and the project - watch the full concert below.

Remembering Lou Smith

Last Saturday, April 20th, Westmorelanders celebrated the life and legacy of Lou Smith, who passed at 105 years of age. Rewatch the touching memorial service, with music from Chancel Choir, Little Falls Band, soloist George Singleton, Dan Smith (son), and Alec Davis

Lou was in an important members of the Choir and Music program for many years. She gave a “fireside chat” one Sunday in the summer of 2021, where she talked about her early life and the influence of church and hymns in forming her view of the world. Watch below

She will be greatly missed, but we will continue to celebrate her commitment to creating beauty in the world through music (and good texts).

Remembering Good Friday 2023

This week, we are remembering back to last year’s Seven Last Words service on Good Friday, a beautifully immersive event that captured the day’s profound solmenity.

“Seven Last Words” refers to the seven phrases uttered by Christ on the cross during the Crucifixion, which were voiced by the Rev. Dr. Kate Epperly. Each saying was followed by a short reflection from Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly, and improvised music from music director Alec Davis and guest soloists Patricia Portillo (mezzo-soprano), and Lawrence Reppert (tenor). All this against a background of subtly shifting colored lights and an atmosphere thick with reverential silence. The whole event was remastered with new immersive graphics, making for a powerful rewatch, and opportunity for reflection this Holy Week. Watch below or on YouTube.

2024 Jean Lutterman Concert - Feb 11th

As per usual around Westmoreland, we collect more great content than we can keep up with the editing! The Second Annual Jean Lutterman Memorial Concert was on Sunday, February 11th, and featured current and former members of our music staff (and extended family). We’ve started the tradition of holding this yearly concert, both to celebrate Jean and her contributions to our musical life, and to celebrate our wonderful and diverse music staff, who all contribute to cultivating a high-caliber music program at Westmoreland; and so it is also the yearly music-staff appreciation concert. (you can tip the staff here)

Soprano Laura Choi Stuart joined this year! Laura is staple in Washington DC’s classical music scene, and also just so happens to be a member here at Westmoreland, as well as a former soprano section leader with the choir. We enjoy roping her into all kinds of projects, and benefit from her skills and her kindness. She sang “The Dream City” by Gustav Holst - one of a set of 12 settings of texts by Humbert Wolf (this, an encore from January’s Epiphany Festival, celebrating Holst at 150), and later sang “Down East” from the eminent American composer (and congregationalist) Charles Ives.

Mezzo-Soprano Mikayla Mindiola is presently the alto section leader at Westmoreland, and soon to be graduate of the vocal performance masters program at George Mason University in VA. She opted to present a trio of selections from Schumann’s Frauenliebe, a song cylce based on poems by Adelbert von Chamisso. The audience enjoyed Mikayla’s explanations of the poems (and we enjoyed hearing a preview of her degree recital!)

Baritone Dr. Stanley Livengood only flexed his vocal muscles during this concert, but we’re accustomed to his versatility as singer, conductor, pianist, organist, and all-around helpful member of the team. He’s our regular bass section leader, teacher to many others, and conductor of the NoVA Lights Chorale. We delved into French and German with his selections: “L’invitation au voyage” by Henri Duparc, and “Ständchen” by Richard Strauss, stories of love and longing.

Time for the instrumentalists…

Barbara Bulger Verdile is another versatile figure in the Westmoreland music community; We rely on her most often as rehearsal accompanist, but she frequently participates in the concerts as pianist, organist, flautist, singer, and moral support. We share her with several other choirs and church music communities in the area and are glad she took this opportunity to pull out such great repertoire. Ravel’s Ondine, from Gaspard de la Nuit was truly amazing to hear live, and a set of walzes - Waltzer-Capricen, Op. 28 Nos. 1, 3, 7 and 9, by Countess Maria Theodora Paulina (Dora) Pejačević a remarkable figure in music and public life of Croatia at the turn of the 20th century.

Our dear friend, the Maestro Stephen Czarkowski contributed two works for cello and piano. In addition to teaching (and visiting Westmoreland), Maestro Czarkowski is the music director and conductor of The Apollo Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the York Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of Opera Camerata. The first was a beautiful arrangement of the Salut D’Amour by Edward Elgar, and later the stunning first movement from the sonata for cello and piano by Samuel Barber.

Director of Music Alec Davis found a comfortable place at the piano for this year’s concert, accompanying others as well as himself, with an eclectic trio of selections. Opening the concert with the Graceful Ghost Rag, a piece of modern ragtime by American composer William Bolcom, and later played and sang (Billy Joel-style) Hero and Leander from the song cycle Myths and Hymns by Adam Guettel, a guilty favorite. He closed the concert with Chopin’s Ballade No. 1.

Please enjoy these videos, and next time you see one of these performers or any of the other music staff at Westmoreland, thank them for contributing to our musical life.

Jan 14 - Farewell to Soprano Lauren Geist

On Sunday, January 14th, the congregation bid farewell to the wonderful Lauren Geist, our soprano section leader since Fall of 2022. She has decided to take a step back to focus on her quickly growing teenage children and her career as a clarinetist in the Navy Band. We will miss her greatly.

Lauren speaking with Alton Frye after the service on January 14th, carrying a bouquet from the flower committee

Lauren has been an enlivening part of this congregation’s musical life ever since she joined, and will certainly return now and again as she’s able. During Joys and Concerns on Sunday, one of our sopranos, Sophie, remarked about how the most compelling part of working with Lauren over the last couple years has been “her heart”, which came through during every moment she spent patiently helping the section through trouble spots in rehearsal.

We’ll miss this sense of heart, but also her brilliant clarinet playing, her willingness to contribute as an accordion player and conductor, her creativity in music selection, and of course her soaring clear soprano voice! That Doxology descant won’t be the same without her!

Accordion trio with Alec Davis and Lizzy Graham

Here are some videos from one of her first weeks with us. As soon as we can, we’ll edit together some of the wonderful music from January 14th and add it here!