This has been quite a month to weather, forcing postponement of at least one anthem - "What Have We Done for the Poor Ones" Jan. 11th - diminishing attendance, but not the spirit of those who have kept the faith and soldiered on. Many, many thanks to Rick Zenn and Pat Percy (aka "my right hand") for joining me and my wife Helene in representing our church choir at the Ecumenical Martin Luther King service at St. Matthews Jan. 18th, where c.200 members of a dozen church choirs sang to about as many in the audience; thanks also to the two of them, along with Melinda McCormack, Doreen Schneider, and Wendell Hannaford, for joining Helene, my dad, and The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, whose members came from Brooklyn, Manhattan, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk, to sing the Suffolk County premiere of the cantata I HAVE A DREAM at our church Jan. 19th, again for about as many in the audience. [And thanks to Chuck Timson, for singing beside my dad, joining Helene, Pat, Rick, Wendell and the others in the MPC for the Manhattan performance Jan. 25th.] Councilman Stuart Besen and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy personally read proclamations from the Town of Huntington and the County of Suffolk heralding the 80th birthday of Dr. King and the 100th of my teacher and mentor, the composer Elie Siegmeister. Grants from the Maldeb and Puffin Foundations covered the guest performers' honoraria. A collection from the generous audience members, who'd come from Hempstead, Oceanside, and Huntington, covered the church's photocopying costs. The New York Times, Newsday, and The New Music Connoisseur all published articles on the occasion. Click on the underlined texts to see photos of the presentations and read the full texts of the articles and proclamations.

This will be a short column, to leave room for photos of the Jan. 19th event - click here for a photo of the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus in our church that evening - and because February is still a work in progress: Anthems have been chosen to highlight African American History Month: Sun. Feb. 1 "Let Us Break Bread Together," arr. Leslie R. Bell.
Sun. Feb. 8 "Child of God," arr. Walter Ehret. Wardean Henry helped us choose those; we look forward to her help in choosing others thru Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25th. There will be no rehearsals Thursdays Feb. 12th and 26th, as Helene and I will be performing in Ohio and Florida those days. Bell choir will resume Thursday, March 5th.

Yours faithfully -

(Dr.) Leonard J. Lehrman, Music Director/Composer-in-Residence