Friday, August 12, 2022

Music Returns to the Church of the Advent

Readers may have noticed the absence of articles about music at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King, whose resident choir Schola Adventus is led by Director of Music Paul Ellison. This was due, in part, to the fact that, during the pandemic, services were being streamed. However, over the past year Ellison has enjoyed taking a sabbatical!

Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin on the high altar of the Frari church in Venice (photograph by Luca Aless, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

This morning I received word that the annual celebration of the Feast of the Assumption will take place in the sanctuary of the Church of the Advent of Christ the King. This feast commemorates the end the the earthly life of the Virgin Mary and the taking (assumptio in Latin) of her body into Heaven. The service will consist of a Procession and High Mass. The Celebrant will be Father Paul Allick, and the Preacher will be Father John Porter.

Ellison has prepared all the music that Schola Adventus will perform for this service. The Ordinary of the Mass will involve the singing of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s six-voice setting Missa Assumpta est Maria. The service will also include music by Robert Parsons, John Tavener,  and Healey Willan.

The Church of the Advent of Christ the King is located at 261 Fell Street, between Franklin Street and Gough Street. The entry is diagonally across the street from the SFJAZZ Center. This is an inclusive parish of the Episcopal Church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. The service will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, August 15. Those wishing further information may call 415-431-0454. For those planning to drive, free parking will be available in the gravel lot behind the church on Hickory Street.

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