SALISBURY — The community is invited to join in a special Christmas musical tradition at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
A nationally recognized church musician, Stephen Williams began offering Organ Noëls in 1985 at First Presbyterian Church in Washington, New Jersey, while a student at Westminster Choir College.
Called ‘Christmas Day Organ Recital’ for the first three years, Organ Noëls began as an opportunity to show off the new ‘Christmas Gift’ organ at First Presbyterian, along with a desire to play organ music that would otherwise probably never see the light of day, and, most importantly to offer a musical gift to a community that just might need a moment to relax and ponder the season. With an immediate popularity, it quite naturally and easily became an annual event. In addition to First Presbyterian, it also found a home at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1990, Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 2014, and in 2022 at St. Luke’s Episcopal in Salisbury.
Williams says he “continues to be thrilled for the opportunity to share such wonderful music during this very special season 41 years later.”
The program will include arrangements of familiar seasonal tunes such as “Pat a Pan,” “Greensleeves,” “Fum, Fum, Fum” and “Joy to the World,” as well as lesser known noëls from French and German composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
In addition to Organ Noëls, Williams will help lead choral and instrumental music offerings for the church’s Christmas Eve Pageant at 4 p.m., Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at 11:00pm (prelude begins at 10:30 p.m.), and Christmas Day Holy Eucharist at 10 a.m.
Organ Noëls will be presented on Christmas Day at 3 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 131 W. Council St., downtown Salisbury. The concert is free and open to the entire community. A hot chocolate reception will follow. For more information, email swilliams@SLS.church or call 704-633-3221.
