International Women’s Day – March 8 – falls on a Sunday this year. To mark the occasion, Christ Church Music has programmed music by female composers at both the 9:00am and 11:00am services.
At 9:00am, the organ prelude, played by Jonathan Vaughn, is Adoration by Florence Price, an African-American composer from the early 20th Century.
The 11:00am service is framed with organ music by Jeanne Demessieux, a towering composer of the French Parisian school, and Ethel Smyth, a British composer active at the turn of the 20th century. Choral music at 11:00am is provided by the St. Cecilia Choir of Girls, who are joined by choir men to perform a spiritual by Rosephayne Powell and an anthem by William Mathias, with words by 14th century (female) mystic, Julian of Norwich. The text begins: “As truly as God is our Father, so just as truly is he our Mother” – fitting words indeed to celebrate International Women’s Day, 2020.