Summertime, and the music is at St. Luke's

By ANGELA CAVE- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the music director at St. Luke's parish in Schenectady invited area musicians to perform at a prayer service to help Haitian parishioners of St. Luke's heal.

That was the impetus for the parish's summer music festival, which features professional musicians at every weekend Mass during July and August. The guest musicians fill in for the parish's 20-member choir, which goes on hiatus in the summer.

Now in its third season, the program has enhanced liturgies and exposed parishioners to music they may not otherwise hear.

"It really does sort of transcend beyond the hot summer church," said Maria Riccio Bryce, music director at the parish and a composer, keyboardist and vocalist. "It lifts you. You can almost hear or feel [the musicians'] souls being poured into their music."

Masses have featured a flutist, a trumpeter, a violinist, a harpist, a cellist and vocalists. The musicians come from the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Glimmerglass Opera, touring shows and other impressive backgrounds.

Before and during
The musician of the week performs a 10-minute concert prior to Mass, then three hymns and a centerpiece song during the Eucharist. "I've seen [parishioners'] faces, and I've heard again and again how conducive to prayer and meditation it is," Ms. Bryce said. "It's enhancing not just the quality of music at Mass, but the experience of their faith."

Ms. Bryce said Rev. Dominic Isopo, pastor at St, Luke's, was initially nervous about the idea, "but he trusts me, and he's very giving, and he loves music. So he said, 'OK. Let's try it.'"

Father Isopo explained that he was concerned about decreased Mass attendance during summer months, as well as the church's lack of air conditioning: What if few people filled the pews to hear the special music?

"But it has worked out brilliantly," he said. Parishioners "never saw anything like this in church."

Heavenly sounds
St. Luke's parishioners have said the harp sounds like music from heaven. They say that hearing old Marian hymns elicit tears and that the song choices resonate on a personal level.

The music runs the gamut from opera, Bach and Mozart to classic spirituals and gospel hymns. "Some of the greatest musical works ever created were created for the Catholic Church," noted John Allen, a baritone who has sung during the festival every year.

Mr. Allen grew up singing with Ms. Bryce at St. Michael's in Amsterdam, now merged into St. Joseph's/St. Michael's/Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish. The pair performed together in high school and at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady in an opera by Ms. Bryce, based on a 19th-century fire in Schenectady's Stockade historic district.

Mr. Allen has sung and acted professionally and worked as a television reporter for WNYT for more than a decade. He has sung at St. Luke's since the late 1990s, when Ms. Bryce became music director there. For his turn at St. Luke's this month, he's considering singing "Shall We Gather at the River."

Musicians' experience
"The people at St. Luke's, I think, are very spiritual," he told The Evangelist. "For me, music [has] brought a sanctity to the Mass. If I can impart that to the people coming to St. Luke's, then it's a blessing for me."

Ward Dales, a drama teacher at Albany High School and a tenor, says he'd "love to do more" music at St. Luke's: "The population they serve at the church really appreciates it on a deep level."

Mr. Dales, baptized Methodist, describes himself as spiritual but not religious. "Anywhere where people are getting in touch with spirituality: for me, that's it," he said.

He's gotten positive reactions at St. Luke's. "Sometimes people are perplexed, but they're never unwelcoming. Music takes you to a deeper place. When you add something different, it gives you another lift."

Father Isopo said the musicians are reminders of "God-given gifts and the way those gifts can be used" and provide inspiration for homilies. "The next step is for the people in the pews to use their gifts," he added.

The summer series has led to an annual Christmas concert at the parish; last year, it drew 400 people and raised $795 for the parish's food pantry. The same artists featured during the summer will perform at the concert.[[In-content Ad]]