The annual Choral Evensong Festival at St. Clement’s welcomed three visiting choirs this past Friday evening for an extraordinary evening of sacred music. Alongside our own St. Clement’s Choir, ensembles from Trinity Cathedral (Cleveland), St. Paul’s Church (Akron), and the University of Mount Union Chamber Singers filled the nave with music spanning five centuries.
The program opened with Byrd’s „Ave verum corpus“ and progressed through settings by Purcell, Stanford, and Howells before closing with a magnificent performance of Herbert Sumsion’s „They that go down to the sea in ships“ — a piece chosen in honor of Harborview’s maritime heritage.
„There is nothing quite like Evensong,“ reflected David Hargreaves, our Director of Music. „It is a service of beauty, stillness, and surrender. When voices fill this space — these stone walls, these oak beams — something happens that is beyond what any of us can plan or produce.“
The next Choral Evensong at St. Clement’s is this Friday at 6:30 PM. All are welcome.