Soli Deo Gloria - Sweet Harmonies at The First Church on April 23rd

The final concert of the 2016-2017 Soli Deo Gloria concert series will be held at The First Church in Swampscott Congregational, 40 Monument Avenue, Swampscott, on Sunday, April 23rd at 3:00 PM.

Entitled “Sweet Harmonies”, the program will include two trumpets with piano or organ, and will also feature flugelhorn and voice. Works of composer Bruce Broughton, famous for his many film scores and television themes, and of contemporary German composer, Hans-Andre Stamm, will be played. Performing these works are Thomas Palance on trumpet and flugelhorn, Brittany Betts on trumpet and voice, and Patricia Clark on organ and piano.

In recognition of the anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, this April 23rd concert will honor his memory with a set of pieces influenced or inspired by Shakespeare’s work. In addition to piano selections by Schubert/Liszt and Grieg with allusions to the Bard, a song by world renowned and award-winning Gloucester composer Robert J. Bradshaw, “How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps”, will mark its world premiere at this concert. Based on text from “The Merchant of Venice”, the piece is set for medium voice, flugelhorn, and piano, and was commissioned for this performance.

Formerly with the US Navy Band in Washington DC, Thomas Palance is a freelance trumpet player, composer, conductor and teacher, and he serves on the faculties of Salem State University, the Boston Conservatory, and The Berklee College of Music. Performing frequently as a singer and trumpet player, Brittany Betts is a local worship leader and educator, and she performs with the John Bailey Octet and the Dave Whitney Jazz Orchestra and travels throughout the USA and abroad as a musician with the Global Mission Unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Patricia Clark serves as Director of Music Ministries at The First Church in Swampscott, where she directs choirs and is organist and pianist, she is on the music faculty at the Glen Urquhart School, in Beverly Farms, and she performs frequently as a free-lance pianist on Boston’s North Shore.

The concert is free and open to the public; free-will donations will be accepted. In addition to audience donations, supplemental funding is provided by the Kay Jauron Fund. Child care will be provided during the performance. For more information, call 781-592-6081 or visit thefirstchurch.org.