Check out the current music calendar here.
CHRIST CHURCH CHOIR
Parker Kitterman, Director of Music and Organist
The Christ Church Choir is a collegial mixture of volunteer and professional singers, parishioners and community folk. We sing services every Sunday at 11am from September through May, and we rehearse Thursday evenings from 7-9pm. We also offer a 'come as you are' rehearsal Thursdays from 6:30-8pm, for those interested in learning our congregational and easier choral music, and improving their singing and note-reading. Our choral and congregational repertoire is, in a word, expansive. On a given Sunday, one may hear a rousing African chant or African American Spiritual calling the people to worship; a German chorale-based hymn accompanied by organ or an American shape-note hymn sung a cappella; an anthem by Britten, Brahms, Billings, or Byrd; a Latin motet or Latin-American Sanctus; a newly-composed psalm chant or paperless prayer response; or a large-scale cantata or mass sung as liturgy; and always great organ music. We also sing special seasonal services for Advent (Lessons & Carols), Christmas Eve, and during Holy Week. We welcome new singers of all levels of experience. Please contact Parker Kitterman at pkitterman@christchurchphila.org or 215-922-1695 x27 if you are interested in being part of this ministry.
THE BELL GUILD
The Bell Guild at Christ Church is a group of parishioner volunteers with keyboard training who peal the bells in the tower before and after worship services. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Bell Ringer, please contact Cecilia Wagner at cwagner@christchurchphila.org. .
FIRST FRIDAY CONCERT SERIES
First Friday is a monthly celebration of the arts in Old City Philadelphia. All events are free and open to everyone, with a free-will offering being collected. Local art galleries and studios, restaurants, concerts at Christ Church, and a variety of other exciting activities, invite your participation on the First Friday of every month. Most months, Christ Church offers a concert or musical program beginning at 8 PM. For additional information check the concert calendar on this page or call the church office at 215-922-1695.
OLD CITY SACRED HARP SING
On the second Tuesday of each month from 7:30-9:30pm, Christ Church hosts an informal, participatory singing of American shape-note hymns from The Sacred Harp in Neighborhood House. This venerable tradition dates back to colonial New England, flourished in the South and Midwest in the early 19th c., and continues to attract partipants. Books are available for loan or purchase.
CURTIS MEMORIAL ORGAN- Dedicated May 29, 1935
The Christ Church Curtis Memorial Organ is a great gift that was made to the glory of God and to Christ Church in memory of publisher Cyrus H. K. Curtis by his daughter, Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist. This splendid pipe organ, built by The Aeolian Organ Company of Boston, was once in the residence of Mr. Curtis in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. In 1935 it was relocated and built into the sanctuary of Christ Church under the supervision of the renowned organ builder Ernest M. Skinner. Of the installation, Mr. Skinner explained, "
The entire instrument has been carefully re-regulated and each stop modified in strength and character in order that the blends and balance may be as perfect as present-day skill in the art permits. For further impressions, the organ will speak for itself." In 1957, The Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company made some minor changes and revisions to the pedal and Great Divisions. Finally, due to the age of the mechanism, most of which was constructed in 1903, the entire organ was dismantled and all the mechanical parts, other than pipes and console, were replaced by Austin Organs, Hartford, Connecticut, under the supervision of Brantley Duddy, Inc., Cedars, Pennsylvania.
Our recently retired organist of 45 years, John Binsfeld, designed the console built by Austin Organs in 1967. The console contains 7 divisions, 4 manuals, 126 drawknobs, 33 couplers, and 110 controls.Click here for the complete organ stoplist. The Curtis Memorial Organ is one of Philadelphia's largest instruments and it ministers to our community each Sunday at Worship Services, as well as, special musical events and Old City's First Friday Concerts. Some of the greatest recitalists from every part of the world have performed at Christ Church on the Curtis Memorial Organ, they include: Anthony Newman, William Whitehead, Odile Pierre, Carlo Curley, Nicholas Kynaston, Marie-Clair Alain, John Weaver, Karl Richter, Virgil Fox, Paul Jacobs, William Trafka, Tim Piper, Ken Cowan, Matthew Glandorf and our own organist, John Binsfeld.