Bill Wade is looking for someone to sew table covers for the bell tables. Please speak to Bill for the details.

Have you ever considered donating a musical offering to our worship services? If so, we need you NOW! Do you have musical talent or ability that you are "hiding under a bushel"? Don't hide any longer, we need you NOW!

This summer we need to provide music in worship for 13 Sundays between 6/13 - 9/5 while the Trinity Choir is on their summer break. This is a perfect opportunity for you to dust off your flute (or trombone, or bongos, or viola . . . ), get out that old solo, and get your "chops" back. Or put together a new ensemble!

Ministers of Music (MoMs) Vicki Carmichael and Dr. Bill Wade, CAGO, are happy to provide any support or input you need to prepare and present your musical offering. Please contact them for further information or to commit to a Sunday this summer. Email vcarmichael44@gmail.com or drwewade@gmail.com or call the church office (314)725-3840. Don't delay! Ask God what you can do to help and contact your MoMs right away.

A big thank you to Robyn and Rob Peglar, who have generously donated her father's Lowry organ to the Chapel. We look forward to Bill's playing!

17^th-Century Song by John Dowland, Claudio Monteverdi & their Contemporaries

St. Louis Baroque presents mezzo-soprano Lindsey Adams in a program of vocal music by two of the most famous composers of the early 17^th-century, the Englishman John Dowland and the Italian Claudio Monteverdi. The concert will take place on Friday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church in the University City Loop. Tickets are available at the door and general admission to the concert is $15 with $10 tickets for students and seniors. Early music fans under 12 will be admitted free.

This program, presented recently by Ms. Adams in Chicago, features some of Dowland's most famous lute songs, including "I Saw My Lady Weepe" and "Flow My Tears." The Italian portion of the concert includes Monterverdi's ciaccona "Voglio di vita uscir" as well as Tarquinio Merula's lyrical "Folle e ben che si crede" and Benedetto Ferrari's exciting "Amanti io vi so dire." Ms. Adams will be accompanied by Philip Spray, playing violone and baroque guitar and Jeffrey Noonan on various lutes and theorbo.

Recent reviews of mezzo-soprano Lindsey Adams have praised her "bell-like purity" and "beautiful intonation". Following her college graduation, Ms. Adams worked in New York singing musical theater and orchestrating for Broadway composers. Her recent move to Chicago has coincided with her increased activity in early music performance and she has been a featured soloist with Bella Voce (formerly His Majestie's Clerkes) and The Oriana Singers. Other performances include appearances with the San Francisco Monteverdi Ensemble and International Chamber Artists. In addition to this season's solo recitals of 17^th-century English and Italian song, Ms. Adams just appeared as a soloist in the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers with The Callipygian Players and Bella Voce in several performances in the Chicago area. An enthusiastic review of that performance described her as a "prominent and expressive soloist throughout." A 2007 graduate of DePauw University, Ms. Adams studied voice with Gabriel Crouch and Pamela Coburn.

St. Louis Baroque is the performing branch of Early Music Missouri, a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to bringing baroque orchestral and choral masterpieces to the St. Louis region. Committed to historically-informed performances and comprised of many of St. Louis's growing population of period instrument players, St. Louis Baroque was founded in 2007 by Charles Metz, Jeffrey Noonan, and Henry Skolnick.

For further information contact EARLY MUSIC MISSOURI at 314-598-7630 or jjnoonan@sbcglobal.net.

Soprano Stephanie Ball is holding her graduate voice recital Sunday April 11, 5pm at Graham Chapel on Washington University's campus. Free; reception following. A week later, her husband, bass Tom Sitzler, will hold his master's recital at the same location: 5pm Sunday, April 18th. Come out to support our amazing singers and hear them perform music they don't do at church!

- Bill Wade, Minister of Music - Organist

This program is designed for teenagers who have an interest in the pipe organ. The POE is open to young people ages 13 through 18 who have early-intermediate piano skills, but who may or may not have studied organ previously. The POE Committee may choose to grant special consideration on an individual basis for admission of a potential registrant whose age or training is different than the guidelines.

Activities include:

• Daily private lessons
• Daily practice time
• Performances by well-known recitalists
• Recital by POE students
• Hands-on organ building session
• Visits to fine local organs
• Trip to the St. Louis Arch and Riverfront
• Meet new friends who share your musical interests

Scholarship assistance is available through the American Guild of Organists. Students may apply for scholarship aid from January 15 through May 29. Please contact the POE Director for information. In addition, students are encouraged to contact their local AGO chapters and/or religious institutions if financial aid is needed.

Faculty members include: Michael Bauer, University of Kansas; Douglas Cleveland, University of Washington; Carla Edwards, DePauw University; Wilma Jensen, Concert Organist; and Christopher Marks, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The faculty will also include professional organists from the St. Louis area with extensive experience in church music teaching and organ performance.

The registration fee postmarked by April 30 is $395; postmarked after April 30 is $450. The registration deadline is May 15, 2010. This fee covers tuition, materials, room and meals from June 13 (Sunday evening) through June 18 (Friday morning), and a one-year student membership in The American Guild of Organists. A check for the entire amount must accompany your registration. After May 15, a $25 cancellation fee will be deducted from the refund. After May 30 there will be no tuition refund.

For more information, please contact me, or Vicki Carmichael, Trinity's Choir Director or go to http://agostlouis.org/pdf/StLouisPOEBrochure.pdf.

Trinity's intrepid bell choir needs four additional bell ringers for the Spring semester. Rehearsals are presently on Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00. Anyone interested, with or without experience, is welcome. Please contact Bill Wade, Minister of Music - Organist at church or email drwewade@gmail.com.

-Dr. Bill Wade, Minister of Music, Organist, CAGO

You are invited to the St. Louis Handbell Festival on Sunday evening, January 31, 2010, at 7:00 PM at Manchester United Methodist Church. The church is located at 129 Woods Mill Rd. Manchester, MO 63011 ( Web Address: http://www.manchesterumc.org). This concert will be presented by the combined efforts of:

Trinity Presbyterian Handbell Choir (Bill Wade, conducting)

Vesper Bell Choir of Manchester United Methodist Church (Sherry Boland, conducting)

Handbell Choir of Kirkwood United Methodist (Dolan Bayless, conducting)

St. Louis Archdiocesan Handbell Choir (Karen Romeri and Max Tenny, conducting)

Gateway Ringers (Charles Peery, conducting)

Handbell Ensemble of St. John's Lutheran Church, Arnold, MO (Burnell Hackman, conducting)

Music will include combined choir selections with organ, percussion, and brass and each choir will also present a solo selection. There will be a reception following the concert. This will be the first time the Trinity Handbell Choir has participated in a mass ringing event and would love to have the support encouragement of your attendance at the concert. Please, come support your dedicated choir members for this concert of resounding joy! Please contact Bill Wade (drwewade@gmail.com) or Vicki Carmichael (VCarmichael44@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

On Sunday November 1, the combined choirs of Trinity Presbyterian Church and Zion United Church of Christ presented "Promises of God", a cantata by Trinity member Jim Shoemaker.

A high quality recording of the concert was made, and you can listen to it at: http://www.trinityucity.org/PromisesOfGod.html.

- Bill Wade, Minister of Music - Organist

Is Trinity a Centripetal or Centrifugal Church?

It has been said that change is the only constant. I agree. Some of us embrace change as an opportunity and new horizon; others view change as a threat to that which has become dependable, sacred, and comfortable. Neither is good nor bad, right nor wrong. In my reading about art and worship within the context of the contemporary church I have realized the dangers we face when change is a source of fear or perceived as a threat to be avoided. To be sure, "change brings upheaval.

What Toynbee says of nations is equally true of churches: "A young nation is confronted with a challenge for which it finds a successful response. It then grows and prospers. But as time passes, the nature of the challenge changes. And if a nation continues to make the same, once-successful response to the new challenge, it inevitably suffers a decline and eventual failure." (Art and Worship: A Vital Connection by Janet R. Walton, 1991, p. 47.)

I believe that as the mission and ministry of the church grows, if we are to remain relevant to the community beyond our doors, our vision must evolve from a centripetal focus (tending or directed toward centralization) into a centrifugal ministry. Think about what tremendous effect a far-reaching, outward flinging force of a centrifugal congregation could have! It is an exciting time to be at Trinity and the opportunities for growth, outreach, mission, and (dare I say) evangelism has never been greater. It won't happen if we continue to do the same, once-successful response to new challenges. We can no longer be centripetally focused on just one or two people or traditions. We must be willing to unleash the enormous power of our centrifugal congregation and be prepared to work harder and smarter than ever before. Please step forward and participate in this exciting future! Dare to share. The invitation is extended to each person to participate, collaborate, construct, write, walk, march, sing, ring, speak, teach, paint, play, weave, knit, organize, and even evangelize! The ministry of art and music isn't complete without YOU !