At the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, we firmly believe that music is an essential and integral part of our spiritual lives, be it in the act of communal worship or on our own individual journey of faith. The universal language of music helps to deepen our faith, affirm our beliefs, inspire us to action, and build community.
The Meeting House is proud to have a distinguished history of quality music and is committed to offering musical opportunities for all to serve. From preschool to more seasoned adults, we have several choirs and instrumental groups that help enhance worship and serve the greater community through concerts and outreach.
Please browse the tabs below to learn about our various choirs, instrumental ensembles, our two incredible mechanical-action pipe organs, and other musical resources. We encourage all who have a voice to raise or an instrument to play to join in our vibrant music ministry at any time! Please contact our Director of Music, Dr. Steven Seigart if you are interested in becoming a part of the musical life of the Meeting House.
Choirs
The Adult Choir leads the music during Sunday worship services from September through May and at special services throughout the year. Our repertoire spans from the earliest chants to newly-composed sacred music, and everything in between.
To join the Adult Choir, please contact Dr. Steven Seigart.
Rehearsals
September‒May: Biweekly Thursday rehearsals from 7:30–9:00 PM.
Summer Choir, June 16-September 1:
During the summer, the Meeting House’s music is supported by our soloists, guest musicians, the organ and piano, and the Summer Choir! This no-commitment, Sunday-to-Sunday ensemble is for anyone who enjoys singing, and especially for those who can’t commit to singing regularly during the Sept-June choir season, or for those who haven’t sung in a choir in a while.
We meet in the choir loft at 9:15 AM every Sunday June 4-September 3 to learn an anthem for the 10:00 AM service. The anthem schedule is posted online, along with links to the sheet music and recordings (we will provide hard copies as well). Please get in touch with Music Director, Dr. Steven Seigart for more details, or just show up any Sunday at 9:15 AM! Hope to see you at Summer Choir!
Meeting House Singers is a chamber choir of eight to twelve auditioned singers drawn from the Adult Choir who sing on an occasional basis at Sunday morning services. Rehearsals are held as needed in conjunction with the Adult Choir.
Age 3 through Kindergarten
They meet from 9:30–9:50 AM each Sunday throughout the program year. Faith formation and music making come together in fun ways as our youngest children gather to sing. The Cherub Music Group sings occasionally for Sunday morning worship services and at the Christmas Eve family service.
Grades 1 through 5
They meet from 9:30–9:50 AM each Sunday throughout the program year. This choir begins to explore liturgy, hymnody, and choral singing in ways that relate to grade-school choristers. The Children’s Music Group sings occasionally for Sunday morning worship services and at the Christmas Eve family service.
Grades 6 through 12
Music is integrated into the youth fellowship program, and is led by Mary Pratt Perry Youth lead music on Youth Sunday, and at various other times throughout the year.
Taizé Service of Wholeness: This service offers an opportunity to pause and reflect during this busy season, and is particularly mindful of the sorrows and challenges that are also present in our lives.
Taizé services are simple, candlelit, participatory prayer services that consist of music, song and silence. The music is meditative, prayerful, chant-like, and repetitive, allowing the gathered group to enter into sung prayer that is both corporate and individually centering.
The music is designed to be played/sung by any and all musicians available, so if you are interested in helping to lead the music at a Taizé service (held intermittently throughout the year), please contact Dr. Steven Seigart.
From September to June, the Meeting House offers several free concerts as a gift to the community, with free-will offerings to support various charitable causes. These range from our popular and intimate Noonday Noels during the month of December to large-scale performances of choral/orchestral works like Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem.
Meeting House Music 2023-24
Jazz Worship
Sunday, October 15, 2023, 11:00 AM
During the 11:00 AM worship service, the Festival Choir, accompanied by a jazz band led by Music Director Dr. Steven Seigart, will present a jazz-centered service including hymns arranged for the occasion. If you’d like to join the Festival Chorus for this performance, please contact Dr. Seigart at sseigart@opmh.org. There are just three rehearsals, and online rehearsal aids are available to help you learn your parts!
Silent Movie with organ – The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 7:00 PM This 1928 milestone of cinema from director Carl Theodor Dreyer is largely considered one of the most important films ever made. With the title performance by Renée Jeanne Falconetti, the film portrays the actual trial and death of Joan of Arc. “You cannot know the history of silent film,” says critic Roger Ebert, “unless you know the face of Falconetti.” The film will be presented in its full, restored form (82 mins), with English intertitles and a live organ soundtrack by Music Director, Dr. Steven Seigart. Tickets are free and the concert is open to the public.
Handel’s Messiah
Sunday, December 10, 2023, 3:00 PM A Holiday favorite, the Festival Choir and orchestra will present G. F. Handel’s immortal 1741 oratorio, which contains some of his best-known music, including his powerful “Hallelujah” chorus. If you’d like to join the Festival Chorus for this performance, please contact Dr. Seigart at sseigart@opmh.org. There are just three rehearsals, and online rehearsal aids are available to help you learn your parts!
Noonday Noels
Wednesdays at 12:05 PM on December 6, 13 and 20, 2023
These short lunchtime programs will feature local musical groups and our own Meeting House Singers in festive holiday carols! Please join us following the concert for a reception in Fellowship Hall.
Good Friday Concert, Rutter Requiem
Friday, March 29, 2024, 7:00 PM
Concert, Poulenc Gloria and music by Lili Boulanger
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 3:00 PM
For information about participating in the music program, contact Dr. Steven Seigart, director of music, or the director listed with each individual choir.
About the Meeting House Organs
Prior to the installation of the church’s first pipe organ, congregational singing and chanting of psalms was unaccompanied or supported by a string instrument. In 1817, Jacob Hilbus and Henry Harrison of Washington, DC built and installed the church’s first organ. This organ was destroyed in the 1835 fire and was replaced in 1849 by an organ built by Henry Erben of New York City, which was installed in the apse behind the pulpit. This organ was relocated to the rear balcony in 1927. The Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas installed an organ on either side of the Erben in 1965. In 1997, the Erben organ was returned to its original location in the apse, the Reuter organ was donated to a local congregation, and a new instrument by Lively-Fulcher Organ Builders was installed in the rear balcony.
Lively-Fulcher Organ Builders, 1997 (Balcony)
Mark Lively and Paul Fulcher have each been building organs for more than thirty years. Their goal is simply stated: To build a small number of organs, one at a time, that are of the highest artistic quality using the finest materials available.
Mark Lively has studied music, art, history, and electrical engineering. In 1976 he established the first company in the United States to utilize Computer Aided Design (CAD) in the construction of pipe organs. In 1989 he became Tonal Director of the venerable English firm of J. W. Walker and Sons. Subsequently, he was appointed Artistic Director.
Paul Fulcher, a native of England, studied piano from an early age. His training in organ building includes a formal English apprenticeship program with J. W. Walker specializing in the voicing of pipes. He worked at Walker and Sons for twenty years, eventually becoming Head Voicer and Joint Tonal Director with Mark Lively. During this period, Lively and Fulcher were responsible for building and voicing scores of organs all over the world.
Now having joined forces as partners in the US, the Lively-Fulcher organ in the Meeting House (Opus 4) has mechanical key action with a detached console and electric stop action. The mahogany case features polished tin façade (front) pipes with carved pipe shades. The organ has 31 stops, 35 ranks, and 2026 pipes.
| GREAT | ||
| 16′ | Bourdon | (49 pipes/12 from PD 16 Subbass) |
| 8′ | Open Diapason | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Stopt Diapason | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Harmonic Flute | (49 pipes/ 12 from GT Stopt flute) |
| 4′ | Principal | (61 pipes) |
| 4′ | Open Flute | (61 pipes) |
| 22⁄3‘ | Twelfth | (61 pipes) |
| 22⁄3‘ | Cornet III | (183 pipes) |
| 2′ | Fifteenth | (61 pipes) |
| 11⁄3‘ | Furniture IV | (244 pipes) |
| 8′ | Trumpet | (61 pipes) |
Swell to Great
Tremulant
| SWELL | ||
| 8′ | Diapason | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Chimney Flute | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Salicional | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Voix Celeste | (49 pipes) |
| 4′ | Principal | (61 pipes) |
| 4′ | Tapered Flute | (61 pipes) |
| 22⁄3‘ | Sesquialtera II | (122 pipes) |
| 2′ | Flageolet | (61 pipes) |
| 11⁄3‘ | Larigot | (61 pipes) |
| 1′ | Mixture III | (183 pipes) |
| 16′ | Bassoon | (61 pipes) |
| 8′ | Hautboy | (61 pipes) |
Tremulant
| PEDAL | ||
| 32′ | Contra Bourdon | (digital) |
| 16′ | Open Diapason | (32 pipes) |
| 16′ | Subbass | (32 pipes) |
| 8′ | Principal | (32 pipes) |
| 8′ | Bass Flute | (12 pipes) |
| 4′ | Fifteenth | (12 pipes) |
| 16′ | Trombone | (32 pipes) |
| 8′ | Trumpet | (12 pipes) |
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Zimbelstern
Henry Erben, 1849 (Apse)
Henry Erben, born in 1800, was son of Peter Erben, a distinguished New York City organist of Trinity Church. At the age of seventeen, he was apprenticed to organ builder Thomas Hall, and by 1821 was a partner in the company. Upon his death, Hall’s name was dropped from the company and business for Erben was most promising. By 1845, 153 instruments had been built including six located outside the United States. From 1847 to 1863, a branch facility was maintained in Baltimore MD for the distribution of organs to the South. When Erben died in May 1884, his obituary in the New York Tribune stated that he had built 1734 organs in his career.
The Erben organ at OMPH is a reflection of English organs of the period. Eight-foot stops are divided on a single manual. A pedal stop was added a few years after its 1849 installation; in 1997 the pedal board and pedal bourdon were removed into storage.*
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Stopt Diapason
8′ Dulciana
4′ Principal
4′ Flute
2′ Piccolo
8′ Trumpet
Manual/Pedal Coupler*
16′ Bourdon*
