The Organist and Choirmaster

CHARLES GROVE

Charles is the Chapel organist and choirmaster. His role in the Chapel’s community is to order and lead its worship.

He hopes to help provide the feeling of entering into an eternal place, one to which any church can act as a beautiful gate. Since he first heard Evensong at a Lebanon County parish, he has worked to worship and lead worship in a spirit of excellence and transcendence. He began playing the organ at 11, going on to study it at Lebanon Valley College, and then started to serve as the Chapel’s organist shortly thereafter in 2013.

The library of anthems, masses, and psalms that line the choir practice room represent centuries of sacred music. Together with the Book of Common Prayer, it forms the heart of the Anglican spiritual tradition. Charles is dedicated to including both newcomers and longtime parishioners in the musical and poetic participation of the liturgy. Laity and professionals sing together in the choir, not to perform for or even to guide the congregation, but as a personal form of worship, joining with angels and archangels. Worship is the act of declaring worthiness; music positions the singer in a posture of penitence and hope towards a loving God.

Charles is also responsible for providing the musical element at special events at the Chapel, be they weddings, funerals, or the special services of holy feasts. If you ever chance to catch him walking into the chapel at odd hours of the day, or working in a dusty corner of the organ chamber or practice room, he’ll probably be humming an Anglican chant to himself and pausing to sigh at its beauty before resuming.