Home
Worship
Sunday school
Missions
Ministers & staff
Music
Youth
Special services,
events, classes
Directions & parking
History
Contact information
Did you know?

Visitors
are always
welcome!

Music at Mount Vernon

THE CHOIRS

Aldersgate Choir – In addition to singing at the 11 a.m. service each Sunday, the Aldersgate Choir presents a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols each December and a major choral work each spring. In the past this spring choral service has included masses by Charles Gounod, Cesar Franck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; "Requiem" by Maurice Duruffle; and "Rejoice in the Lamb" by Benjamin Britten, as well as contemporary works, some especially commissioned by and for the Aldersgate Choir.
    Rehearsals are on Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. (Rehearsal days and times change during the summer months.)

Epworth Choir  – This adult choir sings at the 8:30 a.m. Sunday service. The choir meets at 8 a.m. for a rehearsal before the 8:30 Sunday service.

Aldersgate Ringers – This handbell choir rings several times each year at the 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Sunday services and at the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The choir plays intermediate handbell music on five octives of Malmark English handbells. Rehearsals are on Tuesdays, 11 a.m. until noon, followed by a potluck lunch.

Beginning Handbells:  No musical experience is necessary to join this new group. Handbells are a great way to learn something about music!
     This group is for ages 12 and up, and it meets on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.  A nursery is provided.

   

THE DIRECTOR

Tim Navis came to Mount Vernon in August, 2009. He has a B.A. in music and theology and is completing a masters of church music at the University of Wisconsin, Concordia. In addition to organ, he plays piano, percussion, trumpet, guitar, and marimba. He and his wife, Leslie, have two children: two-year-old Evan and four-month-old Jaden. Tim comes to Mount Vernon from Central Presbyterian Church in Bristol, Va.

THE ORGAN

The organ at Mount Vernon Church was built in 1860 by the Boston firm of Simmons and Willcox for the First Church Congregational in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was later moved to St. Philip's Roman Catholic Church, and when that church closed its doors, the instrument was placed in storage by the Organ Historical Society. The organ was purchased by Mount Vernon in 1988 and restored and enlarged by George Bozeman and Company of Deerfield, New Hampshire. The mechanical action instrument includes thirty stops and thirty-three ranks of pipes over two manuals and pedal.

For more information about the organ and its history, see:

HISTORY OF THE ORGAN AT MOUNT VERNON, by Alan Laufman, executive director, Organ Clearing House

REBUILDING THE 1860 SIMMONS AND WILLCOX ORGAN FOR MOUNT VERNON, by George Bozeman, Jr.

In 2001, National Public Radio's Pipedreams featured notable organs of southern Virginia and northern North Carolina, including the organ at Mount Vernon Church. You can hear the program, "Some Southern Comfort," at http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/2008/0823/.