EVENSONG AT HISTORIC MARKET SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Arts on the Square, a series of musical and artistic events, will sponsor Choral Evensong at Market Square Presbyterian Church, 20 S. Second Street, Harrisburg, on Sunday, May 5, at 4:00 p.m. Principal musicians for this mostly-sung service are the church’s Sanctuary Choir, directed by minister of music Tyler Canonico and accompanied by Kathie Metz of Towson, Maryland.

From the beginning of the human race, people kindled lights as darkness approached. Evensong is a service of evening prayers, psalms, canticles and hymns, held in the late afternoon or early evening, and beginning with the service of light in which the lighting of candles is a re-enactment of creation and also of the resurrection of Christ. A scripture reading follows and intercessions, including a prayer for peace, are offered. Many of these elements will be sung.

Minister of music and organist Tyler Canonico will direct the 25-voice Sanctuary Choir in works by Hovland, Leighton, Ossewaarde, Shephard, and more. Canonico is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he received a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. Previously, he was organist and assistant music director at Christ Episcopal Church and the collaborative pianist for the Alabama Choir School in Tuscaloosa. He was the assistant organist at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, Alabama.

Kathie Metz, a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, will accompany the choir. A teacher, conductor, and organist, she recently retired from Towson United Methodist Church.

Following Choral Evensong, Tyler Canonico and Kathie Metz will play a thirty-minute recital on the church’s 83-rank Aeolian-Skinner/Moller organ. Included in the program will be compositions by Hendrik Andriessen, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Joseph Bonnet.

The church will provide parking in the city-owned Market Square Garage adjacent to the church. Access to the church building is from the first level of the garage or from the Second Street entrances. A free-will offering will be taken.

For more information, call Tyler Canonico at (717) 257-1270 or email him at canonico@marketsquarechurch.org.