The 65th Sewanee Church Music Conference offered attendees a packed week under the leadership of new director Todd Wilson. A stellar music faculty—Robert Simpson and Kevin Kwan—were joined by the Reverend Dr. David B. Lowry as chaplain to lead a week of challenging repertoire and inspiring liturgies. Bob Simpson returned to the conference as choral conductor after a too-long absence. Canon for music at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, he is founder and artistic director of the Houston Chamber Choir and lecturer on church music at Rice University. Kevin Kwan, organist and director of music at Christ and St. Luke’s in Norfolk, Virginia, admirably filled the role of organist for the week, playing the Friday Evensong, Sunday Eucharist, daily liturgies, and performing in recital.
On Tuesday, the Gerre Hancock Memorial Concert showed a team approach with Kwan and Wilson joined by Robert Delcamp (conference board president). Each presented selections ranging from John Cook’s Fanfare to pieces by David Conte, George Shearing, C. V. Stanford, and Widor (first movements from Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6). Hancock was recalled with his Fancy for Two to Play and his Maundy Thursday duet from Holy Week. For these, Kevin Kwan shared the bench of the Casavant in All Saints Chapel, University of the South, with Todd Wilson (his former teacher). Delcamp and Wilson rendered the grand finale: the Clarence Dickinson/Charlotte Lockwood transcription of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, showcasing Kwan’s talent on the cymbals!
The Reverend Lowry’s daily lectures and homilies bore titles he integrated into the conference week: “The Changing Role of Religion and Spirituality in the World Today,” “Liturgy and Music in a Hyper-Media Age,” and “Clergy and Church Musicians: Why is it so hard to work together in harmony?”
Masterclasses for organists and choral conductors offered valuable feedback from Kwan, Simpson, and Delcamp. Michael Petrosh, David von Behren, Jared Fenske, Matt Endahl, Paul Miller, and Stephen White performed on the Casavants in All Saints Chapel and in the Chapel of the Apostles.
Simpson endeared himself to choristers by his collegial approach in rehearsal, teaching service repertoire in an organized and timely manner. Evensong featured Preces and Responses by Thomas Ebdon, canticles by Peter Ashton, Anglican chant by T. A. Walmisley (prayerfully and pristinely rendered under Simpson’s training). The eight-part anthem, Pilgrim’s Hymn by Stephen Paulus, was the choral challenge of the week, allowing the 120 voices an opportunity to experience beautiful tone clusters sung well. Kwan led off with a voluntary by Paulus—A Refined Reflection from Baronian Suite and concluded the service with Stanford’s Postlude in D Minor, op. 105. The hymn text “Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation” was sung to the tune Lowry, composed by McNeil Robinson in honor of this year’s chaplain, a friend and colleague of the recently deceased musician.
On Sunday, the musical and spiritual high point was reached during the Eucharist in All Saints Chapel. Kwan’s prelude (Master Tallis’s Testament by Howells) and postlude (Recessional by William Mathias) beautifully bookended the liturgy. Craig Phillips’s 2006 Festival Eucharist, O Sacrum Convivium by Peter Mathews, and Let This Mind Be In You by Lee Hoiby elicited riveting sounds from the ensemble, paired with Kwan’s electrifying accompaniment on the last-named anthem.
This conference has reached an age rarely attained by similar associations. Reasons for this longevity include a tested format not averse to change, reflecting the needs of attendees, and a thoughtful balance between musical skills and spiritual nourishment, with worship that blends these two. But at its root is the sense of ‘family’ felt by many who return every July to its ‘home’—the Dubose Conference Center. Since 1951, this quiet, historic setting has welcomed thousands to the Sewanee Church Music Conference.
In 2016, Dale Adelmann and Tom Trenney will be music faculty, and the Reverend Erika Takacs will serve as chaplain. For more details: www.sewaneeconference.org.
