Dates for the 2023-24 Concordia Seminary Concert Series [1] are set with the first performances scheduled to begin this month.
All of the concerts are free and open to the public. Most of the concerts are held in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary; visitors attending the summer carillon performances, however, are invited to enjoy the open-air, outdoor setting near Luther Tower.
“Our Lord uses his gift of music in the service of the Gospel — that is as a way of speaking His mercy and love into our hearts in a way that words alone may not,” said Dean of Chapel Dr. Jon Vieker [2]. “What an abundance of blessing the Lord is providing this year through His gift of music!”
The annual series includes Premier Events, Hymn Festivals and Services of Sacred Music, After Chapel Concerts and Summer Carillon Concerts, extending from the fall of 2023 through the summer of 2024.
One highlight of this year’s series is a Premier Concert performance on Palm Sunday of J.S. Bach’s “St. John Passion” by the American Kantorei at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 24. Under the direction of Dr. Maurice Boyer [3], this performance will commemorate the 300th anniversary of the premiere of this major sacred work in Leipzig, Germany. “We are planning for the American Kantorei to sing Bach’s ‘St. John Passion’ from the south transept of the chapel, framed by the new Crucifixion stained glass window,” Vieker said. “This will be a wonderful musical meditation on our Lord’s suffering and death for us, as we enter Holy Week, year of our Lord, 2024.”
After Chapel Concerts will feature musicians from on and off campus sharing their musical talents on a variety of instruments at 9:55 a.m. Recitals are held directly following morning chapel, which begins at 9:35 a.m., and are typically held in the chapel balcony. The concerts also are available via livestream at csl.edu/live [4].
This year’s After Chapel Concerts will include:
- Sept. 12: Organ performance by Benjamin Kolodziej, composer and chapel organist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
- Oct. 10: Trombone performance by Owen Duncan, a fourth-year student at Concordia Seminary and graduate of the music program at Concordia University, Irvine, Calif.
- Nov. 14: Performance by the Lutheran High School Wind Ensemble, St. Louis, under the direction of Matthew Janssen.
- Feb. 20, 2024: Dr. Trevor Magness, a classical pianist based in Wisconsin, whose program will include performance of an original work composed for him and his wife, Amalia, by acclaimed American composer Carter Pann.
- Additional After Chapel Concerts are anticipated for March and April of 2024.
Hymn Festivals and Services of Sacred Music will follow the season of the church year and feature locally and nationally acclaimed musicians. The concerts also are available via livestream at csl.edu/live [4].
This year’s Hymn Festivals and Services of Sacred Music include:
- Oct. 29, 3 p.m.: A Choral Service of Vespers for Reformation with the theme “Each Life a High Doxology” and featuring two Seminary choirs, Laudamus and the St. Louis Lutheran Chorale, as well as children’s choirs from two local congregations — Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis and Village Lutheran Church in Ladue. Rev. Todd Wilken, host of the Lutheran radio program, Issues, Etc., and assistant pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, Ill., will serve as preacher for the service.
- Nov. 28, 7 p.m.: A Choral Service of Evening Prayer, preparing for Advent and Christmas and featuring Laudamus, the St. Louis Lutheran Chorale and the Psallite choir from Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, Mo.
- • Feb. 18, 2024, 3 p.m.: “The Ashes Go on Singing”—A Hymn Festival on the Hymns of Martin Luther after five centuries, narrated by Peter Reske, senior editor of music/worship at Concordia Publishing House. This event will follow the annual Prevallet Hymn Writing Workshop the previous day.
Summer Carillon Concerts are held at 7 p.m. Tuesdays in June and feature national and international carillonneurs performing pieces on the 49-bell carillon in Luther Tower. The public is invited to bring picnics and lawn chairs and gather on the grounds near the tower to enjoy the performances.
Carillon concerts are scheduled for June 4, 11, 18 and 25.
For more details and a complete schedule, please visit Concordia Seminary Concert Series [1].
About Concordia Seminary
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) [5]. To learn more, visit csl.edu [6].