Music Ministry
Start warming up your voices! The Christ Church Choir will resume rehearsals and regular Sunday services this fall, beginning on September 11 for our Kickoff Sunday. We rehearse Wednesday evenings from 7-8:30 pm in the church. The choir sings at the 10:00 am service most Sundays between Labor Day and Memorial Day, with special offerings on Christmas Eve and Good Friday. We will provide singers’ masks for the safety of all. Music reading is not required, but singing experience is helpful. Email Director of Music, Maggie O’Neill at choircccexeter@gmail.com with inquiries. Join us: we are looking for basses and tenors, and sopranos and altos are also welcome!
First rehearsal: Wednesday, September 7, 7:00 pm- 9:00 pm in the sanctuary. Pot luck dinner beforehand!
Organist Bruce Adami led the congregation in a two-part forum discussion of the workings of the church’s 2006 Lively-Fulcher pipe organ.
March 7th focused on what organists do and how the console (the control system) works. Our Zoom services have certainly given us an up-close and personal view of the organ, but how does all that really work – what do all those buttons do?
Then on March 14, Bruce took us on a virtual tour inside the organ itself to see the lungs of the instrument, pipes short and long, metal and wood, and the biggest Venetian blinds you can imagine! Did you know that the Christ Church organ contains 2,621 pipes?
Director of Music- Maggie O’Neill
Maggie holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. She has previously conducted youth choirs and adult community ensembles, and has experience teaching elementary and secondary music in public schools. Maggie has sung professionally in churches and ensembles for the past decade and enjoys singing and performing professionally in choral, theatre, and solo settings.
The Director of Music for Christ Church has served as our staff liaison to Pine Street Players at Christ Church, our growing youth theatre program, and Maggie also fills this role. She serves as Head of Music and Music Director for the Pine Street Players. When she’s not working here at Christ Church, Maggie performs with theatre companies throughout New England, and teaches private voice lessons.
Our Organ
Christ Church has a long history of loving its music in all forms as part of our worship and as a pure demonstration of the beauty of God’s melodies in our lives. Our programs include choirs made up of adults, teens, and children as well as some of our talented instrumentalist parishioners.
At the center of our music program are our two prized instruments: the Liveley-Fulcher organ built in 2006 and our 1939 Steinway Model L small concert grand piano. Our organ has 3 manuals, 43 ranks, and 2,653 pipes and is considered to be one of the finest instruments in New Hampshire. It is in great demand for organ recitals and concerts by many diverse community groups.
Coupled with the outstanding acoustics in our recently remodeled sanctuary, we regularly host music programs sponsored by community organizations, including Amare Cantare, Rockingham Choral Society, Portsmouth Pro Musica, and the Community Chorus of South Berwick ME.
Organist- Bruce Adami
Bruce Adami has served as Christ Church’s organist since September 2007. From 1984-2004 he was Director of Music and Organist at Brookside Congregational Church (UCC), Manchester, NH; and from 1981-1984 was Director of Music and Organist at Grace Episcopal Church, Lawrence, Massachusetts. A graduate of Oberlin College-Conservatory of Music in 1978, Bruce holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance. He has given organ recitals throughout the U.S.
He has served as Treasurer and Dean of the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He currently serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Bear-Paw Regional Greenways, a land trust with over 9,000 acres of conserved lands in the eleven-town region between Bear Brook and Pawtuckaway State Parks. He is past Chair of the Board of the Young Organist Collaborative, an organization whose mission is to encourage middle and high school students to study the pipe organ.
Our Parish Choir, comprised of adults and teens, sings at our 10:00 service most Sunday mornings. At Christmas and Easter, this group expands to become Festival Choir, providing opportunities for other parishioners to join them in special service music. The anthems they provide always enhance our worship experience and often include soaring solos by some of our gifted singers.
We also have a number of talented instrumentalists of all ages in our parish who are often part of our liturgies either as guest soloists, in a small chamber ensemble, or as accompaniment for the choir during anthems.