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News
Compline at the Basilica of St Mary in Minneapolis
A Season of Transition for the Compline Choir
Radio Schedule Change
James Biery Named Director of The Minnesota Compline Choir
Parsons Retires from Compline Choir
New CD, Wondrous Love, Released
Poster Available
Compline Worship Resumes
Hamline United Methodist to Welcome Compline
Central Lutheran Church Cancels Compline Support, Broadcast Schedule Revised
Report From Orlando
Compline Worship Continues
Compline at the Basilica of St Mary in Minneapolis
The Basilica of Saint Mary is hosting an ecumenical Night Prayer service each Sunday evening of the Easter season at 8:30 pm. This peaceful service is sung by the Minnesota Compline Choir, directed by James Biery. The choir is an ensemble of twenty men who have sung Sunday night Compline for the past 18 years. Their hauntingly serene 30-minute Prayer at the Close of the Day continues the ancient tradition of solemn chanted prayer kept by monastic communities around the world for well over a thousand years.
Come, bring a friend, and pray for peace at nightfall. The 8:30 pm service begins on April 11 and continues through Pentecost, May 23, 2010.
The Basilica of Saint Mary is located on Hennepin Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Parking is available on the west side of the church in the parking lot under the freeway. There is no charge for this parking lot during weekends. The Basilica office phone is 612.333.1381, and the Basilica website is at mary.org.
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A Season of Transition for the Compline Choir
This season has been one of transition for the Minnesota Compline Choir. The evening of February 14, 2010 will mark the final service that the Minnesota Compline Choir offers at Hamline United Methodist Church. We are planning a "Thank You" celebration following that service to express our gratitude to the clergy, the staff and the congregation of Hamline Church for the years of support.
We are pleased to announce that we will continue our tradition of Compline during the 2010 Lenten season at Assumption Catholic Church in downtown St. Paul. The 8:30pm service begins on February 21 and continues through Palm Sunday, March 28.
Assumption Church is located at 51 W. Seventh St. in downtown St. Paul. Off-street parking is available.
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Radio Schedule Change
Effective December 12, 2009, the Compline broadcast on KKMS Radio 980 has been moved to 11:30 PM each Saturday night. This program will continue to feature the worship service recorded the previous Sunday night.
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James Biery Named Director of The Minnesota Compline Choir
We are extremely proud to announce the appointment of Mr. James R. Biery as Music Director of the Minnesota Compline Choir.
James Biery was appointed Director of Music at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1996. Previously he held a similar position at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut. A Pi Kappa Lambda graduate of the Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston, Illinois, his principal organ teachers were Grigg Fountain and Wolfgang Rübsam. Mr. Biery holds the Choirmaster and Fellowship Certificates of the American Guild of Organists, winning the Fellowship Prize in 1986. He has a large number of organ, choral, and brass compositions in print, published by MorningStar, Concordia, Augsburg-Fortress, GIA, Oregon Catholic Press, and Boosey & Hawkes, and is the recipient of 2006, 2007, and 2008 ASCAPlus awards. He has recorded the music of Marcel Dupré for AFKA and Naxos, and recently released a disc of repertoire for violin and organ with SPCO violinist Michal Sobieski.
Mr. Biery is very pleased to join The Minnesota Compline Choir in its 17th season to offer the tradition of Compline to all who are seeking tranquility at the close of the day.
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Parsons Retires from Compline Choir
Charles Parsons, co-founder and director of the Comline Choir since 1992, has announced that he will be retiring from his leadership role with the choir at the end of this season.
The Minnesota Compline Choir was created by Parsons with Rev. Dr. Steve Cornils in 1992 at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the time, the need was for a late Sunday evening service which could also be a radio broadcast. Ultimately, it was one of the highest rated programs on WCAL, the former public radio station from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.
It was Chuck’s energy and hard work in those early days that crafted the foundation of the Choir. From the first Compline service until tonight, Chuck’s artistic and spiritual influence has guided the tranquility of our ministry.
Under his direction, a widely varying collection of singers developed a common choral tradition that has helped serve the spiritual needs of thousands. Over the years, Chuck managed to balance the demands of the ministry with an infectious sense of humor. The souls in the congregation and Choir alike have all benefited from his laughter, his respect for the procession, his genius as an organist, his mastery of choral arrangement and descant composition and his love of the Psalms.
The choir's Board of Directors has initiated a search for a successor to Parsons with the intention that there will be no interruption in the singing of the worship service. Please watch this space for an announcement of a new music director sometime this summer.
The 2008-2009 season will end on May 17, and the 2009-2010 season is scheduled to begin on September 13.
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New CD, Wondrous Love, Released
The Minnesota Compline choir is pleased to announce the release of its third CD, entitled Wondrous Love.
The album was recorded in the spring of 2007 and the winter of 2008 in the beautiful sanctuary of Hamline United Methodist Church, and, in addition to the choral anthems, features organist Charles Parsons on the magnificent 64-rank Casavant organ.
The selections range from the ancient texts of the Compline liturgy (which is heard in its entirety), to the modern harmonies of composers such as Jean Langlais, Jehan Alain, and Alice Parker.
Two versions of the title song are heard, one on organ as arranged by Gordon Young, the other a familiar choral setting by Paul Christiansen, which features soloist Jeff Anderson. These form the central textual theme of the recording. Soloist Mark Anderson is heard on another signature piece, J. Edmund Hughes' arrangement of "Steal Away."
Two newly-composed works are featured. First is Charles Parsons' arrangement of J. W. Franck's "O Jesus, Grant Me hope and Comfort." The other is a setting of "Lord Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word" by Compline member Lowell Prescott, who conducted the choir on that recording, as well as serving as engineer and project coordinator for the CD. Photography and graphic design was provided by Peter Tressel, who is also a member of the choir.
The choir's unique focus on unison chant singing is featured throughout. In addition, chants of two and four parts can be heard both on hymnody ("O Trinity, O Blessed Light") and on psalmody (on Psalms 95 and 80).
The recording reaches its emotional peak during Parsons' exciting recording of "My Lord, What a Mornin'" as arranged by Raymond Haan.
The choir has released two previous CDs. All three are available for purchase on CD and/or MP3 download on the recordings page found on this site.
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Poster Available
The Compline Choir of Minnesota is a self-supporting organization and is always looking for opportunities to get the word out. To that end, a poster is now available which gives some of the basics about the choir.
If you know of a location where people may be interested to know about the choir, please download the poster, print it on either 8 1/2" x 11" or 8 1/2" x 14" paper, and post it.
To print directly from your browser, click on the link below and the document will open in Adobe Reader. From the File menu, select Print....
To download the file, right-click on the link and select Save Target As... or Save File As.... The file will be downloaded to your system.
ComplineFlyer1.pdf
Thank you for supporting the Compline Choir of Minnesota.
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Compline Worship Resumes
The Compline live worship service has resumed at a new time and location. The 25-minute service is now held each Sunday night at 8:30 PM at Hamline United Methodist Church adjacent to the campus of Hamline University in St. Paul.
As always, the service is open to the public and all are welcome.
For the location of the church, as well as other information about the congregation, please visit www.HamlineChurch.org.
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Hamline United Methodist to Welcome Compline
On Sunday, September 11, 2005, the Church Council of Hamline United Methodist Church voted unanimous approval to host the Minnesota Compline Choir. Hamline is prepared to begin its Compline worship on Sunday, October 2.
For details on the worship space, organ and congregation, please visit www.HamlineChurch.org.
We are very excited to begin this new era for the Minnesota Compline Choir.
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Central Lutheran Church Cancels Compline Support, Broadcast Schedule Revised
Central Lutheran Church has announced that as of August 31, 2005 they have discontinued all funding and in-kind support for the Compline Choir, and discontinued the Compline worship service. They cited the reduced value of the worship service due to the lack of a radio broadcast, as well as a necessary reallocation of financial resources.
While the choir is disappointed by their decision, we wish to extend our gratitude to the congregation for their past support.
The choir is now seeking a new home, and we hope to begin live worship services again soon. At this time, there is no firm schedule for the resumption of worship. We ask for your prayers as we search for the resources to continue our ministry.
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Report From Orlando
The Minnesota Compline Choir was invited to sing at the assembly this past weekend (August 12-14, 2005) during which we had several opportunities to sit in and observe the Lutheran Church at work. The choir arrived at the assembly on Friday, shortly after the voting on the three contentious issues regarding the recommendations on the sexuality study. When we walked through the doors of the hotel and convention center you could feel the anger, pain and frustration in the air. In between rehearsals the rest of that day we heard emotional and tear-filled stories about the events of the week, and I had serious doubts about the value of having our little choir sing when the hearts, minds and attentions of everyone at the assembly were focused elsewhere.
We were scheduled to sing for the assembly service of healing Saturday morning. When the assembly broke and people started to file into the enormous meeting hall that served as the worship space, you could still viscerally sense the tension in the air. We started off with several more quiet tunes and even at that moment, I could sense a small miracle beginning to happen. As the music went on, walls were tumbling, hearts were melting, and voices were blending together. We were all there, we were all focused. One Church. One People. One Community. As we sang an anthem "I Give You a New Commandment" I shivered and the hair on the back of my neck raised as I felt the word of God leaving my mouth and the Holy Spirit filling my heart and spreading out over the room. Here is the verse of the song, taken from John 13:34:
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this the world shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
The choir also had the opportunity to do our traditional Compline service at 9:00 PM on Saturday. A very large crowd turned out for the event, in large part due to the heavy lobbying of Bishop Craig Johnson. Again, the power of the music through chanted psalms and anthems transformed the air in the room and a calming peace settled in the hearts of the congregation.
I truly believe that people walked into both services as one person, and walked out as quite another. Did we change minds and opinions? Probably not. Did we open hearts? Yes. Did we lift and renew the spirit? Yes. Did we remind ourselves and the rest of the assembly that Love and Peace should be our guiding principals? Absolutely.
Surprisingly, in spite of everything else this weekend, I felt my faith renewed instead of diminished. I feel that my broken spirit was restored and that a flame was rekindled in my heart. I was encouraged that we can all talk, work, sing and pray together. It may not be easy, nor should it be. We grow and bloom through how we deal with challenge and adversity. Despite all of our differences I believe that if we truly let the love of one another guide us, there will be no room for fear, there will not be a place at the table for bigotry and hatred, and that ultimately truth, justice and peace will prevail.
Peace and Blessings to all of you.
Michael Brown, Compline Member
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Compline Worship Continues
From 1992 to 2004, the Minnesota Compline Choir was heard live on Classical 89.3, WCAL FM, the radio service of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. The 30-minute Compline program was consistently one of the highest rated programs on the station, with many thousands of committed listeners. The final broadcast on WCAL took place on November 21, 2004, after which ownership of the station was transferred to Minnesota Public Radio.
The choir intends to continue keeping to office of Compline each Sunday evening at 9:00 PM, and is currently seeking a radio home in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and/or greater Minnesota area, and is also investigating syndication options which could broaden the audience substantially. All of the worship services are recorded and will be made available in the archive on this site.
If you can be of any help with the goal of reaching a larger audience, please contact the choir.
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This page last modified on March 29, 2010
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