Portland’s First United Methodist Church offers a variety of musical opportunities for vocalists and instrumentalists of all ages and musical skills. Internationally renowned musicians; Jonas Nordwall, organist, Erick Lichte, Director of the Chancel Choir, and Nancy Hascall, Director of the Sanctuary Bell Choir head a team of outstanding professional and volunteer church musicians that come from all parts of the greater Portland area. All are welcome and encouraged to join one of our many musical groups. Read more about the music program at First Church.
In the last ten years, Erick Lichte has carved out a distinct niche in the vocal music world and concert life in North America. The Washington Post has hailed the “audacity” of his programming, the Chicago Tribune has noted the “meticulous preparation” of his choirs and Fanfare Magazine declared that he created and helmed “the premier men’s vocal ensemble in the United States.”
As a founding member, singer and Artistic Director of the male vocal ensemble Cantus, Lichte created and sustained one of only two full-time vocal ensembles in the United States. From 2000-2009, Lichte’s programming and artistic direction were heard in over 60 concerts a year in such venues as Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Merkin Hall, San Francisco Performances, Oregon Bach Festival, UCLA and Elora Festival. He has collaborated with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, the Boston Pops, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, Minnesota Orchestra, James Sewell Ballet and poet Robert Bly.
His work with Cantus garnered the 2009 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, the highest honor for the professional choral organization Chorus America. He has also been awarded major grants from Chamber Music America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lichte is also a champion of new music and has been a part of the creation of over 50 new works. Composers Lichte has worked with include Lee Hoiby, Gavin Bryars, Steven Sametz, Edie Hill, Mary Ellen Childs and Peteris Vasks. Lichte himself is an active arranger and composer whose music has been heard across the United States. He is especially known as a co-creator and musical arranger of the theatrical work All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, which has been broadcast nationally and has been presented in three national tours.
As a choral conductor, Lichte has served as guest chorus master for the professional chorus of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque as well as the Great River Chorale, and One Voice Mixed Chorus. Lichte has also served on the faculty of Augsburg College and the University of Saint Catherine. He currently conducts the Portland State University Man Choir and University Choir, the Chancel Choir at Portland’s First United Methodist Church and is Associate Conductor of the Oregon Repertory Singers.
Lichte is a graduate of St. Olaf College where he studied with the renowned choral conductor Dr. Anton Armstrong and is currently studying with Dr. Ethan Sperry at Portland State University.
Lichte is an ardent audiophile and is a Contributing Editor for Stereophile Magazine where he writes equipment reviews of high performance audio equipment.
We want to give a warm welcome to the combined Chamber and E! Choirs from
South Medford High School to our worship service on April 22. They will be
singing Baba Yetu — a Swahilli version of The Lord’s Prayer.
SMHS Chamber Choir — directed by Andrea Brock
A 30 –voice auditioned advanced choral ensemble. This group has acquired a reputation for quality singing, and has appeared on the OSAA State Choir Championships for seven years.
SMHS E! Choir – directed by Pam Nordquist
A 30-voice auditioned advanced choral ensemble known for its’ eclectic repertoire — jazz, a cappella, novelty, choreographed, classical, and show tunes.
This group performs a lot in the community and has placed in the Pleasant Hill Jazz Festival in consecutive years.
They’re baaaaack! One of Portland’s greatest brass ensembles returns for a spring-time concert as eclectic as it will be electric. From classical to classic movie music, don’t miss the only spring concert by the legendary Big Horn Brass on Sunday, May 20 at 3 pm.
This concert brings together the fifteen-member Big Horn Brass, under the leadership of David Bryan and Andrew Harris at the First United Methodist Church at 1838 SW Jefferson Street in Portland. Concert selections will range from John Williams and George Gershwin to The Beatles and Leonard Bernstein.
The Big Horn Brass was founded in 1983 by Andrew Harris. Members of the group come from symphonies and brass bands from all around the area. The group performs a wide variety of music including classical, romantic, renaissance, ragtime, marches, brass band, patriotic and movie music.
The first half features:
Fanfare by John Cheetham
Lulu is Gone Quickstep and Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair by Stephen Foster
Theme from Silverado by Bruce Broughton
Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin
Somewhere by Leonard Bernstein
A Beatles medley
In the second half:
Canzon a 12 by Giovanni Gabrieli
Two selections from Lieutenant Kije by Sergei Prokofiev
Funeral March from Die Gotterdammerung by Richard Wagner
Themes from Jurassic Park and The Lost World by John Williams
Walk Like an Egyptian by Liam Sternberg
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and are available at http//www.bighornbrass.org. For more information on The Big Horn Brass, contact Andrew Harris at 503-866-0901.
Throughout the Sundays of Lent, the Chancel Choir has sung movements of Requiem by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986).
Though his meticulous perfectionism limited his published output to a mere handful of works, Duruflé has demonstrated an ability to borrow from those things good and beautiful composed for us by masters throughout the centuries and bind them all amidst the constant underpinning of Gregorian chant. This has resultied in some of the most sublime and resplendent music of our time. His work has contributed immeasurably to the art of liturgical music and has opened for us a better understanding of the applications of chant in the modern church.
The Requiem, Duruflé’s longest and most substantial work, was composed in 1947 and follows the form and character of the setting by Gabriel Fauré. Like Fauré, Duruflé chose to break away from the operatic and highly dramatic Requiem settings of Berlioz and Verdi. He sought to focus his setting not on visions of hell and damnation but on images of rest and peace.
Our presentation of Requiem will culminate on Palm Sunday as we sing the Sanctus. Translated from the Latin: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest! (Translation by Ron Jeffers.)
Mark Woodward’s award-winning choral composition “The Day Slipped By” was recently premiered by Portland Vocal Consort. This is from the Forest Grove concert.
Program Notes
As Rachel AuBuchon revels in the pleasures of farming, she alludes to the fluid and often elusive nature of time in these excerpts from her poem “Sunset.” She juxtaposes the repetition of manual labor against the pause of reflection and then pins a moment’s epiphany against the cycle of days and seasons.This song-setting hopes to create a similar sense of suspended time by stretching the triple meter through metric modulations and presenting surprising harmonies in each of its three short sections. The song concludes with a hymn of quiet awareness and submission to the timeless cycles of the sun.
Text
The Day Slipped By
The day slipped by with swinging notes as reapers sowed their fields.
Sweet droning haze of yellow life, it made me want to wield
A tool of labor for myself, to work, to gain, to cut.
The sweat wiped from my brow at noon became my chill at dusk.
For as the sun advanced to shine before soon waking lands,
The sky and air turned purple-blue and cast upon my hands
New shadows, lines, and shapes of unknown hues and colors lost
Until breathless shock of frost.
Lapsing from dream to dream, I’m waking, sensing, knowing.
Yes, this is life, this gust of wind that rushes down the throat,
The surprise at the clearness, the gentle journey of night
That opens and closes with the sun.
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: February 22nd, 2012
Mark Woodward, our tenor soloist, has won the Young Composer Competition sponsored by Portland Vocal Consort.
His SATB choral piece, “The Day Slipped By,” will be performed at their concerts at 7:30pm on February 25th, at First Presbyterian Church, and at 4pm on February 26th, at Pacific University.
It will be premiered alongside new works by U of O’s Robert Kyr, PU’s Timothy Stephens, Aurora Chorus’s Joan Szymko, and PSU’s Ethan Sperry.
Portland Vocal Consort BEST OF THE NORTHWEST Concert
Saturday, February 25 at 7:30 pm
First Presbyterian Church
1200 SW Alder
Portland, OR 97205
Sunday, February 26 at 4:00 pm
Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center
Pacific University
2043 College Way
Forest Grove, OR 97116
Tickets: General Admission $20, Seniors $15, Students $10
Tickets available at the door or online at this link.
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: February 1st, 2012
Remember the fun you had at last year’s Mardi Gras at First Church?
Grab your beads, put on your party masks and dancin’ shoes! Saturday night, February 18 is the second annual Mardi Gras presented by the Friends of Music.
The party begins at 6:00 with Methodist Hurricane Punch, a great Jambalaya dinner, dessert and presentation of the King Cake. Do your Mardi Gras research to win the King Cake!
Again the fabulous Glenn Tedina Swing Street Band is providing dance music, and the Mardi Gras cuisine is prepared by our master chef Art Kayser and his expert staff.
This fundraising event for our music department is $25 per person. Additionally you are invited to be a Mardi Gras sponsor.
Tickets and more information will be available during Coffee Hour in the Commons following worship February 5th and 12th. Seating is limited, so get your tickets early.
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: February 1st, 2012
Christa Wessel at 89.9 AllClassical FM is going to play highlights of our Lauridsen Experience concerts from last February on her show “Played in Oregon” on Sunday, February 12 at 1pm. You can also listen live at www.allclassical.org
The portions she has chosen to play are:
Madrigali & O Magnum Mysterium – The PSU Chamber Choir
Lux Aeterna – First United Methodist, First Unitarian, Westminster Presbyterian Choirs & PSU Symphony
Sure on This Shining Night – combined PSU Choirs and Morten Lauridsen, piano
A special thank you to our audio engineer. Christa frequently turns away great concerts because the recording quality is too poor to play on the air. She found our recording to be “surprisingly high quality.”
Under the direction of Nancy Hascall, the Sanctuary Bell Choir provides music for worship at FUMC several times a year, playing 5 (and sometimes 6) octaves of Schulmerich handbells. We rehearse weekly on Wednesday evenings from 7-9 p.m.
Besides the director, we currently have 11 active members, four of whom are new to the group this year, and we are eager to welcome others. The ideal number for a 5-octave handbell choir is 13, but we can easily accommodate more. In addition to ringing in worship, our goals include skill development, outreach, and mutual support through prayer and fellowship.
The only requirement for membership in Sanctuary Bells is the ability to read music. Beyond that, anyone who desires to learn, and will make a personal commitment to regular attendance, is encouraged to participate. In the event of an absence, members are responsible for arranging for a substitute ringer to take their place, as rehearsing with a ringer absent is like playing a piano with missing keys.
This spring we are scheduled to play for Sunday worship on February 19, April 22, and May 20. Plans are also in the works to present a Wednesday night program for a retirement home sometime in May, and/or offer music for another church on a Sunday morning.
Several members of the Sanctuary Bells will attend the Area 10 Conference of Handbell Musicians of America (formerly AGEHR) in Tacoma, June 22-24. The event, in which we have participated biannually for almost 20 years, offers showcase concerts, classes on various aspects of handbell ringing, and a massed ringing experience with as many as 400-500 ringers rehearsing and performing in concert together under a nationally known conductor. (In alternate years, we often attend smaller festivals such as the Siskiyou Summit Handbell Festival in Ashland.)
Come and check us out. Anyone is welcome to observe rehearsals and/or give handbell ringing a try!
Vanessa Unger is in her final year of schooling in a Music Education: Choral Track at Portland State University (PSU) and is hoping to continue her education by entering the masters program next year at PSU.
She serves as co-President of the PSU chapter of the Music Educator’s National Conference. In addition, she is the Alto section leader and tour manager for the PSU Chamber Choir, having previously served as choir Vice-President.
She is certified at Level I in the Kodaly Method, an internationally-renowned methodology of teaching children music.
With 14 years of choral experience and nine years of professional vocal study, she is a great addition to our music staff and is working and playing with our Cherubs Choir.
The Cherubs Choir next sings for worship on February 12th.
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: December 14th, 2011
We are pleased to announce that both Zachary and Hannah Feely have been accepted as recipients of Nordwall Education Scholarships.
This is an education endowment fund that will pay for them to take lessons from Jonas Nordwall for up to two years. Their goal is to become better church organists.
Both Zachary and Hannah are college students and will periodically play for us during our Sunday morning church service. They will begin their lessons in January, 2012.
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: December 14th, 2011
Wow! Here we are! Christmas is coming, ready or not. I am still in the “not ready” group, but making head-way. I hope you are as well.
We will help our congregation in their journey to the manger this Sunday as we sing “Gloria” and “Fantasia on Christmas Carols”.
This Thursday the choir will meet IN THE CHAPEL AT 7:00 and work on spots that need it with Carol Young. Erick and Jonas will be working with the brass and timpani from 6:30 – 7:30. At 7:25 we will quietly go into the chancel and be seated ready to do the “Gloria” with the brass and timp. We have until 8:00 to do that, then the players leave. Then we will work on the Vaughan Williams piece.
Be prepared: I heard that Erick might ask us to come early on Sunday morning!
Christmas Eve we sing at 7:00 and 9:00 services. We are singing Vaughan Williams again and also “O Holy Night”. So, please turn in “There Is No Rose” (in the wire basket please).
REMEMBER THAT WE EACH BRING SOME SORT OF YUMMY FOOD THING TO SHARE BETWEEN THE SERVICES ON CHRISTMAS EVE.
We take it to room 202 ahead of our 6:30 call time so that the music committee members can set it up.
Then please remember to take your dish back to your car before the 9:00 service so that the room is cleaned up.
After this Sunday, you can turn in the “Gloria”, but keep the “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” for Christmas Eve.
See you all on Thursday a little before 7:00 in the Chapel.
Thanks!! It is all going to be wonderful!
Author: Kelly Qualls Published: November 2nd, 2011
The Chancel Choir Party has been scheduled for December 4th at 4:00 at the home of Jonas and Nancy Nordwall. More info to follow!
This Sunday the Portland State University Man Choir will join our Chancel Choir Men to sing both the anthem and offertory. We welcome them to our choir. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of them loved us so much that they came on Thursday to a rehearsal!! Erick directs this group of 40 men at PSU. Ladies, you have the day off and can listen to the music from the congregation!
In the last ten years, Erick Lichte has carved out a distinct niche in the vocal music world and concert life in North America. The Washington Post has hailed the “audacity” of his programming, the Chicago Tribune has noted the “meticulous preparation” of his choirs and Fanfare Magazine declared that he created and helmed “the premier men’s vocal ensemble in the United States.” 
They’re baaaaack! One of Portland’s greatest brass ensembles returns for a spring-time concert as eclectic as it will be electric. From classical to classic movie music, don’t miss the only spring concert by the legendary Big Horn Brass on Sunday, May 20 at 3 pm.
Throughout the Sundays of Lent, the Chancel Choir has sung movements of Requiem by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986).
Mark Woodward, our tenor soloist, has won the Young Composer Competition sponsored by Portland Vocal Consort. 
Enjoy some photos of last Saturday night’s revelry:
Remember the fun you had at last year’s Mardi Gras at First Church?
Christa Wessel at 89.9 AllClassical FM is going to play highlights of our Lauridsen Experience concerts from last February on her show “Played in Oregon” on Sunday, February 12 at 1pm. You can also listen live at 
Under the direction of Nancy Hascall, the Sanctuary Bell Choir provides music for worship at FUMC several times a year, playing 5 (and sometimes 6) octaves of Schulmerich handbells. We rehearse weekly on Wednesday evenings from 7-9 p.m.
Vanessa Unger is in her final year of schooling in a Music Education: Choral Track at Portland State University (PSU) and is hoping to continue her education by entering the masters program next year at PSU.
