02/04/2010

Hymn Festival Celebrating Chicago-based Composer Carl Schalk to be Held May 23 at Christ, Bexley

A hymn festival celebrating Chicago-based composer Carl Schalk and his legacy to the church will be held at Christ Lutheran Church in Bexley at 7 p.m. on the Day of Pentecost, May 23, 2010. The event is titled "Thine the Amen, Thine the Praise" in honor of one of Schalk's most beloved hymns, and is presented by ALCM Columbus: Cantor Connection, a local chapter of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. It will feature the Schalk Festival Choir along with a variety of conductors, organists and instrumentalists from central Ohio and beyond. Schalk, his wife Noël, and their daughter, oboist Rebecca Nagel, plan to attend.

Carl Schalk, 80, is Distinguished Professor of Music Emeritus at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Ill., where he taught graduate courses in church music for several decades. Previously he was director of music for the International Lutheran Hour, editor of the journal Church Music from 1966-1980, and has served on boards and committees for The Hymn Society, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship. His choral compositions and hymn settings for congregational use are widely used. He has written more than 60 hymn tunes and carols.

Schalk was born in Chicago on September 26, 1929. He earned advanced degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y., and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has received several honorary degrees and is a Fellow of The Hymn Society in the US and Canada.

A freewill offering will be taken. For more information please see www.cantorconnection.org. Additional details will follow as the date draws nearer.