by Gioia Patton/Arts Insider

WHEN: Sunday, January 26, 2025 @ 3:00pm.

WHERE: Second Presbyterian Church, 3701 Old Brownsboro Rd., Louisville, KY

**Admission is FREE thanks to generous donors to this Concert Series. A freewill offering will be collected to benefit their mission partner Bellewood and Brooklawn. A reception will follow.

“The Concert Series at Second Presbyterian Church was begun many years ago as a way to reach the wider community of Louisville with music that both engages the mind and stirs the spirit,” explains Jim Rittenhouse, Director of Worship & Music Ministry at Second Presbyterian Church. “The church has had a longstanding commitment to the best in church music, and its expansive Sanctuary and intimate Chapel has been able to feature musicians and other professional musicians from the region with a variety of music,” he told the Arts Insider.

Rittenhouse continues, “This particular program was the brainchild of Dr. Samuel Libra, our former Organist, and I as an inaugural Epiphanytide concert to be presented in January (Epiphany is from January 6 to Ash Wednesday). Our hope was to establish a signature event in the darker days of winter with the rich variety of music from the pre-Baroque and Baroque eras emphasizing the brightness of the message of Christ. This year, we chose the musical tune ST. ANNE (to which the Protestant church sings Our God, Our Help in Ages Past) that is found in many composers’ works of the era. We have also included two works that evoke the darkness that sometimes comes in our individual lives (our “winter of discontents”) in the setting of Out of the Depths (De Profundis) of Psalm 130, and the funeral motet of Bach, Fürchte dich nicht, which presents the hope that is found in a loving God. Our second half of the program is a paean (praise) to God – Handel’s O Praise the Lord with One Accord, and the glorious Fugue on St. Anne of J.S. Bach.” 

An original instrument ensemble – Alison Cullin-Ellison, concertmaster – will be joined by a double-octet of singers from Second and throughout the region, including soloist Emily Yocum Black, and baritone Jason Steigerwalt. Harpsichordist and organist Lisa Lewis, Director of Music at St. Luke’s Episcopal/Anchorage will accompany. Jim Rittenhouse, conductor. Alice Culin-Ellison, concert master.