UPDATE: I have posted a link to the service here.

If there’s one thing I take away from all the church music conferences and conventions, it’s the greatest thrill and extraordinary experience to be in a cathedral full of fellow choir directors and organists and hearing them lustily sing the hymns. We were told that this is the largest Association of Anglican Musicians conference ever, with 350 of us in attendance, and for 90+ of us, including me, being the first AAM conference. Actually this is my second — the first was in the 90s in Portland, Oregon — but it’s my first as a member.

Vespers began last night with an expanded organ prelude on the 4-manual, 96 rank Aeolian-Skinner organ, expertly performed by Chase Loomer. According to the program book, he plays over 250 services a year; he was part of the Diapason‘s “20 under 30” 2025 class and featured as a “NextGen” artist in The American Organist. He masterfully played music by Rachel Laurin, his own composition, Nocturne No. 1: Constellations, Noel da Costa, Louis Vierne and Gerre Hancock.

The choir, under the direction of Dale Adelmann, was absolutely extraordinary in the reverberant cathedral. The singers sounded extremely well-blended and could not have sounded more perfect. The Cathedral Choir is comprised of 35 auditioned volunteers and the Cathedral Schola has 15 semi-professional staff singers. I had heard about the stellar choir program and about Dale Adelmann from their former organist, Caroline Robinson, whom you remember played a fantastic series of concerts in Hawaii in 2023 and was my houseguest! Luckily I did get a chance to greet Caroline for a few minutes after the service.

During the Vespers service, the choir sang a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Alexander l’Estrange, Preces and Responses by Käthe Wright Kaufmann, anthems by David Briggs and Annabel Rooney, and a processional psalm by George Talbot.

But it was the hearty congregational singing that blew me away. What a far cry from some of the congregations I have played for, where I feel like I’m pulling teeth! Earlier in this post, I described it as “lusty” — you could also call it “booming” which completely filled the cathedral. A descant was printed in the program for the higher voices (sopranos and tenors) to sing on the last verse, and of course, no one needed any rehearsal. It was spot-on in the first and only read-through. So thrilling and almost primeval!

We’ll have another chance to sing at this morning’s opening Eucharist, which will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal, Arlan Sunnarborg’s former parish. Arlan was the former choirmaster-organist of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu.