Please take a look at my current project, a large-scale Festival of Lessons and Carols, which you're invited either to perform in its entirety, or from which to select any number of individual carol arrangements:
"Sing We Noel! — A Festival of Lessons and Carols"
INTRODUCTION TO MY CHURCH MUSIC
Over the years, I've composed and arranged a fair amount of music for the church setting. Even though my main compositional focus these days is on film music, concert music, and Holiday Pops arranging, I'm still very interested in the field of church music. I've listed a sampling of my church music on this website, and have described four of the larger works in greater detail.
My newest project for the church setting is"Sing We Noel! — A Festival of Lessons and Carols," which will be performed in December 2010. Please note that all of the carol arrangements in this work may be performed individually, if you're looking for just a few carols to perform in your holiday service. Also, these carol arrangements are suitable for a concert setting.
DESCRIPTION OF MY CHURCH MUSIC
My earliest forays into church music showed a distinctly neo-Baroque style, reflecting my great love of Baroque music. However, most of my recent works for the church setting are carol arrangements (and some original carols) which are in a somewhat "Hollywood film music" style — quite accessible and often dramatic.
If you're interested in carol arrangements, I suggest you take a look at my current project: "Sing We Noel! — A Festival of Lessons and Carols." This is an entire service of carols scored for choir and chamber orchestra, but each carol arrangement is free-standing and may be performed separately. Also, I plan on making keyboard-only accompaniments of most of these carols.
You may also be interested in hearing excerpts and/or buying the CD of a major holiday work I created back in 1996: "A Symphony of Carols." This work is a dramatic 45-minute work featuring ten carols woven together by the use of creative bridges. Since it's written in one single movement and is 45 minutes in length, I fear it's a bit too ambitious to be performed again, by anyone. :) I'm not really promoting it anymore; instead, I'm promoting my newest work for the church setting: "Sing We Noel! — A Festival of Lessons and Carols."
One area of church music composition I'm especially fond of is hymn arranging. I've written a number of congregational hymn arrangements for varying forces and purposes. Typical of my work in this area is my arrangement of "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," a majestic arrangement of the hymn, whose accompaniment is scored for chamber orchestra and organ.
I'm very interested in creating more hymn (or anthem) arrangements with orchestral accompaniment, so if your church uses an orchestral accompaniment for hymns or anthems (whether frequently or just occasionally, and whether on a small or large scale), I would love to hear from you regarding the opportunity to write more of these arrangements.
Many of the pieces listed in the various "Church Music" sections of this website are also appropriate for a concert setting, which I have noted in the description of each piece, where appropriate.
