Never one to miss an opportunity, Carl Crosier programmed a full slate of music at today’s 10:30 am service, figuring we would have a lot of visitors which we did. We began with a concerto for strings and organ by Archangelo Corelli as the prelude, then Psalm 23 from the Becker Psalter by Heinrich Schütz. The offertory anthem was a cantata on Psalm 23 by Schütz, which the choir only rehearsed this morning. (Remember, we had no Thursday rehearsal this week!) Soloists were Sarah Markovits, soprano, Meg Bragle, alto; and Ian Capps, tenor, and I must say all three of their voices blended as one! During the communion I played Bach’s Von Gott will ich nicht lassen from the Great Eighteen chorales, then the choir sang “Surrexit pastor bonus,” by Hans Leo Hassler. We closed with a concerto by Giuseppe Legrenzi for strings and organ. Instrumentalists today were Hung Wu and Anna Womack, violins, Andrew Eckard, cello; and John Gallagher, bass.

The day’s not over yet, though, as Carl will be conducting Compline tonight and has asked me to play the organ for the two anthems: The Lord is my shepherd by Maurice Greene (1695–1755) and O give thanks to the Lord by Matthew Locke (1621-1677).

During the announcements time, Carl got up and thanked the congregation. “It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a congregation to present the B-Minor Mass!” He especially thanked the efforts of Nedra Walker, who was in charge of all the ticketing and reservations; and Carol Langner, who was the onsite coordinator for the hospitality. These two ladies put out herculean efforts to host the crowd of nearly 400 people (audience plus performers) each night.