LITTLE BIT O' SOUL
Faith Partners Enters Its Second Decade

By Renita Kalhorn, New York Chapter Director

In the Beginning

1998: Composer Craig Carnahan completed his Church/Synagogue Residency with "Transformations on the Hymn Tune 'Geneva.'" The work was premiered on September 13, as part of a dedication ceremony for the Wayzata (Minn.) Community Church's new organ (pictured). Photo: John Michel

(Sounding Board, June 2003) Consider the typical province of new music: Premieres take place in modest, out-of-the-way halls devoted to contemporary concert music. Audiences are loyal but small, and repeat performances are rare.

In 1991, as the American Composers Forum (then known as the Minnesota Composers Forum) approached its third decade, this was all too often the context in which new-music performances took place. The situation raised some questions around the Forum: What if we built audiences for new music where people already gather? Houses of worship are a natural gathering place - why not reinstate what has traditionally been a strong relationship between religion and the arts, and put composers back into that historical setting?

So went the conversations between Denice Rippentrop, a Forum board member and composer with a passion for sacred choral music; Linda Hoeschler, who had recently joined the organization as executive director, and Philip Brunelle, organist and choirmaster at Minneapolis’ Plymouth Congregational Church and artistic director of the Plymouth Music Series (now VocalEssence). Those discussions led them to the idea of a faith-based residency program.

Hoeschler took the plan one step further, suggesting the program incorporate an element of interfaith outreach by bringing together groups of congregations of different faiths for composer residencies. In that ecumenical spirit, Brunelle suggested that composers write works to be shared by the participating congregations. Through this snowballing of ideas, the framework of the Church/Synagogue Residency Program, in which a composer works with a consortium of religious congregations in the creation of new sacred music, took shape.

The course was set. Rippentrop did much of the initial legwork, calling choral directors around the state to gauge their interest in such a program. The response was enthusiastic. Fritz Bergmann, then the Forum's director of development and operations, led the search for funding, uncovering a perfect match in the Otto Bremer Foundation, which offered specific - and under-utilized - support for religious music. The foundation's guidelines stipulated that at least one participating congregation in each consortium be located in a Bremer Bank community, which acted as a catalyst for the expansion of Forum programming from its Twin Cities base into rural communities of the Upper Midwest.

At first, members responded to the Church/Synagogue Residency Program with resistance and skepticism, recalls Philip Blackburn, then the Forum's director of composer services. Composers simply didn't see writing for rural churches as a savvy career move. Ten years later, the program, now known as Faith Partners, is one of the Forum's most requested, and career-enhancing offerings.

Composers and Congregations: Together Again

2001-02: As part of his residency in Fargo, N.D., composer Jay Huber doubles as a guitarist for a performance at Temple Beth El.

Faith Partners re-establishes the traditional relationship between composers and religious institutions and provides composers with a rare opportunity to write sacred music. But the program's impact goes beyond simply adding new works to the religious canons. Everyone involved - clergy, music directors, musicians, parishioners, and composers - reaps benefits, often unexpected, from the program.

More than 100 rural and urban communities of faith have participated in the program, successfully weaving new sacred music into the fabric of their spiritual lives. Unique in the country, the program was initially run from the Forum's national office in St. Paul, and worked with congregations throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. In recent years, Faith Partners has expanded to the Atlanta Chapter, which administers residencies in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina, as well as the Boston and New York chapters.

Most residencies join one composer with two to three congregations over an 18-month period. The composer writes six new sacred works, including compositions that meet specific liturgical needs of individual congregations and works to be shared by the entire consortium. Of course, everything from the length of the residency to the number of composers can change, depending on the congregations' needs.

Over its first decade, Faith Partners has encouraged and cultivated diversity and inclusiveness in every aspect of its residencies. The participating congregations represent a broad spectrum of denominations. Musical styles have included everything from Gregorian chant and choral anthems to Jewish modes and klezmer idioms. Instrumentation has ranged from a cappella to full orchestra, from handbell choir to African drum ensemble.

New works have been written for a variety of circumstances: the dedication of a new pipe organ, church anniversary celebrations, the recognition of clergy, and even reflection on the commonalities between the Holocaust and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. "These residencies," says Krystal Banfield, the program's administrator for the Upper Midwest, "allow both the composers and the congregations to explore and create very distinctive experiences, particular to each of the communities."

Touched by a Composer

1999: Congregants at First Baptist Church in St. Paul participate in an outdoor procession. Part of composer Jan Gilbert's Faith Partners residency, the procession marked the church's 150th anniversary.

A simple philosophy forms the program's heart: Faith Partners goes beyond providing congregations with music by engaging them in its creation. The congregations control the residency. They choose the composer, participate in the creation of the works, and premiere the compositions. As a result, they have a real sense of ownership over the process, and take pride in the new works.

"For a rural congregation to have the opportunity to engage in the creative process with an established composer is a tremendous gift," says Pastor Dan Wolpert of First Presbyterian Church in Crookston, Minn., a 2002-03 congregation. "It brings energy, new life, and excitement into our church."

As people turn to religion in these chaotic times, Faith Partners takes on even greater significance and timeliness, using the power of music to draw together people of different faiths and cultures. "What attracted me was the inclusiveness of it," 1997-98 Faith Partners composer Craig Carnahan told Sounding Board in 2001. "Here was a program that brought very disparate groups of people together and also reinforced the relationship that existed centuries ago between composers and organized religion. That [relationship] had broken down over the years. Such great music once came out of those collaborations."

True to the original vision, the program has been a dynamic vehicle for interfaith exchange, exposing parishioners as well as participating composers to other faiths. In Minnesota, Conservative Jews, Lutherans, and Unitarians prayed and sang to the music of Chris Granias, an Eastern Orthodox composer. In New York City, cantor and composer Gerald Cohen wrote a setting of Wordsworth's "Ode to Immortality" for an Episcopalian church; and in Massachusetts, a rabbi and Baptist pastor have addressed each other's congregations during services.

"I look forward to building meaningful relationships through the creation of music that inspires and challenges their hearts and minds, and reflects who they are. I anticipate and hope for personal growth and fulfillment in myself as well." - Linda Tutas Haugen, Faith Partners composer, 2002-03

Congregational outreach activities such as coffee hours, adult education programs, and Sunday school classes educate parishioners more broadly about the music and provide opportunities to meet the composer and learn about the creative process. Distinguishing between a concert audience and a congregation, composer Jan Gilbert told Sounding Board in 1999 that in a Faith Partners setting, inspiration often flows both ways. "They're giving you input," she says. "I'm under their power - in the sense that I want to work with them and not present something which is just my own fantasy of what they might like."

Most congregants have never ventured out to the modest, out-of-the-way halls of new music, but still find themselves deeply and unexpectedly affected by what they hear - work that engages the abiding questions of life, death, value, meaning, and purpose in a way that only music can. Through Faith Partners, new music becomes part of a congregation's life. In some cases, congregations have continued to commission new works on their own, after the residency has finished. Parishioners have even approached composers to commission music for weddings, birthdays, and other personal celebrations.

It's Not Just a Job

2001: In preparation for Birmingham, Alabama's first Faith Partners premiere, composer Bob Moore watches Huffman United Methodist Church Music Director Bob Whetstone lead the chancel choir through a rehearsal of "Come Gladly, Come Gaily, Come Gather Together."

Though initially, many composers reacted with disdain to the program's perceived aesthetic limitations - and admittedly, a rural church is unlikely to boast the performing forces of a big-city professional choir - Faith Partners residencies have presented composers with a wide range of learning opportunities and musical challenges. As with many things, attitude counts.

"Any composer who goes into a Faith Partners residency ready to collaborate with and serve the congregations will be richly rewarded," says Brent Weaver, a 2000-02 participant in Atlanta. Rippentrop, who was selected by a consortium several years after the launch of the program, echoes the sentiment, saying, "The goal for me as a composer was to learn what works in today's churches."

Among the benefits Faith Partners composers have found, one of the biggest is a clear sense of utility for their work. "After a decade and a half of composing for various kinds and amounts of money, I really want my music to be of use," wrote Randall Davidson, composer for one of the program's two inaugural residencies, in a 1992 Sounding Board article. "Composing music intertwined with spiritual expressions of faith is not only useful, but also very rewarding. Music in this setting is a means of amplifying meaning - underscoring significance."

Composers also receive a valuable grounding in the practical aspects of the creative process. "To meet the musical needs of the church communities is to have an understanding of them," composer Katherine Majkrzak told Sounding Board during her 1994-95 residency in Minnesota and North Dakota. "This means much more than simply knowing how many choirs a church has or what kinds of instrumentalists are available. It means understanding the dynamics of the group. It means appreciating the theology and the customs of the church. It means walking in their shoes and acknowledging the challenges they take on when they agree to do a new work."

"Not only will [Faith Partners] provide us with a dynamic opportunity to work with an established and creative composer, but it will also help us develop a lasting relationship with our partner congregation, Mount Zion Temple." - Timothy Sawyer, Choir Director, The Colonial Church of Edina (Minn.), 2002-03 participant

It also means learning to work with, and understand the capabilities of, both professional and amateur performers. St. Paul composer David Moore, who wrote a particularly challenging canticle for one of his congregations, welcomed a participatory approach to the process when the music director asked for some revisions to keep the work within the choir's means. "If any composer who's been commissioned to do a piece hands the group a piece they can't do or doesn't fulfill what they're asking for, then they haven't done their job," he told Sounding Board in June 2001.

Faith Partners also provides composers with an elusive reward: repeat performances of their work. The format of the residency, including the pieces that are shared by all the congregations, guarantees multiple performances. And services for the larger congregations can attract hundreds and even thousands of worshipers - a larger audience than most new-music concert enjoy.

In 2002, New York City composer-in-residence Gerald Cohen had the thrill of hearing one of his pieces performed three times within a two-week period, each time with a different world-class organ and choir in a renowned sanctuary. Likewise, First Presbyterian Church in Grand Forks, N.D., has performed a Gloria written by Majkrzak numerous times since its mid-'90s premiere. Cary John Franklin, who along with Davidson was one of the inaugural Faith Partners composers, notes that his "Navaho Prayer" has been popular with a number of high school choirs as well as other congregations.

Beyond New Music

Over the course of ten years of Faith Partners residencies, 42 composers have worked with 116 congregations to write nearly 250 new works. Clearly, the program has shown that communities of faith are a viable and appreciative audience for new music. By bringing congregations together with a composer in the creation of new sacred music that eloquently expresses their faith, it has also offered them a way to bind themselves as a community, and build lasting bonds with other communities of faith.

"Working in a Faith Partnership is about bringing the spiritual vision of a community to life through music," says Wynn-Anne Rossi, who began her residency earlier this year. "As a composer, the process is a reminder that music is not just about my own personal journey, but a vehicle for profound communication."

Funding for Faith Partners has been provided by the Otto Bremer Foundation (Upper Midwest); The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Southeast); the Cherbec Advancement Foundation, A.C. Ratshesky Foundation, and Foley, Hoag, and Eliot Foundation (Boston); and the Wolfensohn Family Foundation (New York City).