Advent Press is pleased to announce its forthcoming Georgetown Collection -- 7 Christmas and 6 Easter hymns arranged by Richard Webster for two trumpets, organ, choir and congregation. Commissioned by Christ Church, Georgetown, Washington, DC, this exciting and practical new collection of hymn settings will be essential for church musicians looking to enliven Christmas and Easter worship. Publication is expected in time for Easter 2017.
Enjoy this informal video clip from the October 18 recording session at the Virginia Seminary Chapel, with organist Thomas Smith, trumpeters Brandon Almagro and Kevin Buzinsky, some of Washington's finest choral singers, and Richard Webster, conductor.
Richard Webster
Richard Webster -- composer, church musician, conductor and organist -- is Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. As a composer and arranger he completes several commissioned works a year. His hymn arrangements for brass, percussion, organ and congregation are heard across the English-speaking world, including the CBC's Christmas and Easter broadcasts and BBC's "Songs of Praise." A recent recording from Taiwan features his hymn settings sung in Chinese.
At Trinity, Boston, where he cofounded the Trinity Choristers, he has led the Trinity Choirs on three tours to England, with residencies at Lincoln, Ely, Chichester, Winchester and St. Paul's Cathedrals and Westminster Abbey. Richard is Music Director of Chicago's Bach Week Festival, featuring some of the nation's most acclaimed musicians. Sought after as a choral clinician, he has led choir courses and workshops across the U.S., South Africa and New Zealand. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (FRSCM), and in 2016 was awarded the Doctor of Music degree, honoris causa, from the University of the South at Sewanee.
Richard has performed and recorded as organist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works from the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony to Ives’ Fourth Symphony. He is the Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, where, from 1974 to 2003 he directed the Choir of Men and Boys, the Girls Choir, Schola and the St. Luke’s Singers in a program widely respected and emulated. The restoration of the celebrated 1922 Ernest M. Skinner organ at St. Luke’s was accomplished under his leadership.
Under the direction of Richard Webster, hymn festivals featuring his hymn settings for brass, organ, choirs and congregation are held in cities across the country, and meet with resounding success.
What do YOU need to host a hymn festival in your city?
Five to eight accomplished brass players and a timpanist
A dedicated choir - perhaps a massed ensemble drawn from area churches
An organist who plays hymns in the "symphonic" style
A fine organ in a favorable acoustic
A crowd of people who love to sing hymns!
To plan your hymn festival, choir workshop, or organ recital, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Commission a work by Richard Webster
Many of the works in the Advent Press catalog are the result of commissions -- from churches, colleges, dioceses, the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, municipalities or individuals. Perhaps you would like to mark a festival service, the dedication of a new church or organ, or other special occasion with a new composition or hymn arrangement. The memory of a loved one can also be honored by the creation of a new sacred work. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss these and other possibilities.
A church musician's perspective on the Boston bombings.
