As any stroll around northwest Brooklyn—once the “city of churches”—will reveal, there are a lot of churches in New York that don’t have a lot of people in them. Most mainline Christian denominations have been affected by a nationwide downturn in attendance, and the Episcopal Church is no exception. But if a church possesses an expansive and renowned building, such as the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which sits in grandeur at the intersection of 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, then the organization has an expanded public duty as well. Even in medieval times, a cathedral was never just a place to distribute Communion on Sundays but a vital civic and cultural center for the community it architecturally, and spiritually, dominated.
St. John the Divine is very much a part of this tradition, and has championed progressive social causes for decades, seeing them as part of a merciful Christian mission. With President Trump’s recent executive order on immigration causing havoc within many of America’s immigrant communities, mercy has been getting a workout lately. And one of the ways in which the Cathedral is responding is to present #RefugeinMusic, a participatory concert this Sunday evening, February 19th, at 7 P.M. As the church said in a statement, “This community-orchestrated concert will be a show of support for refugees, reaffirming the Cathedral’s commitment to the New York City community and to all immigrants, whose impact makes America great.” (Take that.)
Rest assured that the professionals, including the Cathedral’s distinguished organist and director of music, Kent Tritle, along with the Cathedral choirs, will be on hand. But instrumentalists wanting to staff the orchestra, and singers wanting to join the chorus, are enthusiastically welcomed. (Information about bringing or obtaining scores and parts is available on the St. John the Divine Web site.) Audiences are wanted, too, and there will be no admission charge. The repertory—“of hope and consolation”—will include some of the old favorites that choral singers love to wrap their hearts and vocal cords around: selections from Brahms’s “German Requiem,” the Requiems of Mozart and Fauré, Bach’s B-Minor Mass, and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” See you there.
