Annual diocesan music festival is open to all
Friday, Apr. 01, 2016
SALT LAKE CITY — Diocesan choirs, musical groups and musicians are invited to share their talent as people in the Diocese of Salt Lake City lift their voices to God during the annual Music Festival at St. John the Baptist Parish April 23.
The music festival will give each participating parish a chance to perform a choral piece or hymn, said Ruth Dillon Office of Liturgy director. “The Church in Utah is very blessed to have many dedicated musicians, who volunteer their time and talents in the music ministry. The diocesan liturgical music committee is providing this opportunity for these musically talented people to come together to celebrate the Lord in song,” she said.
The liturgical music committee, in conjunction with the Office of Liturgy, is hosting the annual event. It is the committee’s hope that every musician will take this opportunity to come and share their gifts, said Dillon. “This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from each other, to hear different styles of music and to enlighten the hearts of many to God’s grace present in our midst.”
“This is a very exciting festival for all musicians and singers because we all learn from one another,” said Martie Sluga, a liturgical music committee member and liturgical music coordinator from Saints Peter and Paul Parish. “When we learn from one another, we expand our repertoire for our parishes. We also meet new people at the festival, which provides us with camaraderie.”
The Diocese of Salt Lake City and the parishes are becoming diverse, said Sluga.
“I didn’t realize that until a few years ago when I started attending the festival,” she said. “There is also a lot of diversity in the way we present a piece of music, basically because of our different cultures.”
For example, at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Masses are celebrated in English and Spanish. They have an English choir, a Tongan choir, a children’s choir and four separate Spanish choirs, who are “all distinctly different from each other,” said Sluga. “If we have a bilingual Mass we will come together with the different choirs to blend our music; it makes it more exciting and spiritual at the same time.”
At past diocesan music festivals, each group, choir or musician has presented a piece, but during this year’s festival a person from each participating parish will teach other participants a new song, said Sluga.
“When each of the participants present their pieces, it’s a beautiful and spiritual experience,” Sluga said. “It’s fun. I could never have dreamed that the different groups could be so different from one another. Each group is totally delightful in their presentations. We will also sing some of the old standby songs. It will be an exciting, well-rounded musical experience.”
WHAT: Diocesan Music Festival
WHEN: Saturday, April 23
WHERE: St. John the Baptist Parish, 300 East 11800 South, Draper
All are invited to this free event. To participate, RSVP by April 8, to Ruth Dillon, ruth.dillon@dioslc.org or 801-328-8641, x 363.
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