by Dr. Erin Busch, Director of Music Ministry
One of my goals as your music director is to bring new voices and musical experiences into our Sunday services. I hope to accomplish this, not only through diverse programming, but also through our guest musician series. I’m excited to share a terrific lineup of performers who will join us this spring! Please mark these dates down on your calendars and be sure to attend in person if you can do so.
On March 10, we will welcome pianist Dynasty Battles, a concert pianist living in Philadelphia. Dynasty was the winner of the Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award in 2021 and performed a solo recital during the 2022/23 Philadelphia Chamber Music Society season. The composer Ted Hearne (Pulitzer Prize finalist) also composed a piece for Dynasty entitled Study Buddy; Dynasty premiered the piece in 2022.
Clarinetist and pianist Erica Stockton will join us on March 17 to play pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Paul Reade. Erica and I will take turns accompanying each other, so you will also hear me perform some cello repertoire. Erica is a wonderful clarinetist and the current Executive Director of the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County.
On April 7, cellist Michal Schmidt, who is a friend of UUCWC congregant Margaret Bar-Akiva, will join us. Michal was born in Israel and has studied at the University of Tel Aviv, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the University of the Arts. She completed her doctoral studies at Temple University.
Flutist Rena Xu (she/her) will join us as our youth music representative on May 5. Rena Xu is a senior at New Hope-Solebury High School who has played flute for ten years and is presently the principal flutist for the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County.
Finally, we will once again welcome a jazz band to perform for our Flower Communion service on June 9; a post-service fellowship picnic will follow. Please look for more information about this later in the season.
I hope to see you at all these exciting services this spring!
Erin