Sunday Night Compline

WXXI acknowledges the 25th anniversary of Compline on Sunday nights October-April.

Click on the image-link above to hear the story and get a feel for why so many people use this spiritual space to end one week and start the next.

Singing and transforming: Compline with Schola Cantorum Sundays

Compline is preceded by Candlelight Concerts on the 1st Sunday each month from October -April. The Candlelight Concert begins at 8:30 p.m.with Compline following at 9 p.m. All events take place at Christ Church, 141 East Avenue.

Compline is performed by Schola Cantorum and directed by Stephen Kennedy, Director of Music and Organist of Christ Church Rochester, Instructor of Sacred Music at the Eastman School of Music, and Instructor of Organ for Eastman’s Community Music School. In 1997, he founded the Christ Church Schola Cantorum to perform the Office of Compline each Sunday at Christ Church.

This acclaimed ensemble of voices and Renaissance instruments specializes in the performance of Plainsong, motets of the Renaissance and Romantic eras, as well as contemporary music and improvisation. The group has been featured in various national radio broadcasts, appeared in international festivals and concerts, and collaborated with ensembles such as the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, and Ensemble Weser-Renaissance Bremen.  The Schola has recorded for the Arsis and Loft labels.

We asked Stephen for his thoughts as this tradition enters a 25th year:

When I founded the Schola Cantorum in 1997, I never imagined that it

would have developed into an ensemble with such transformative impact

through high-level music making. What grew out of a desire to teach others to perform Gregorian chant from medieval notation is now a performance laboratory where we experiment and grapple with performance practices of many styles of music.  These processes afford us choices that expand the expressive possibilities of our performance. 

“The Christ Church Schola Cantorum… sings beautifully.” Fanfare magazine.  Founded in 1997 by Stephen Kennedy, the Schola performs the Office of Compline each Sunday evening from October through April at Christ Church in Rochester NY. Rochester Magazine called it “The coolest, most unusual music experience in the city…” The Schola specializes in the performance of liturgical music and chant, as well as contemporary music and improvisation.  This ensemble has collaborated with Manfred Cordes and Weser-Renaissance Bremen, Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Players, and organists Edoardo Bellotti, Hans Davidsson, David Higgs, Olivier Latry, William Porter, Joris Verdin, and Harald Vogel. The Schola has been a favorite of festivals and concert series, notably at the annual international Eastman-Rochester Organ Initiative.  APM’s Pipe Dreams, Minnesota Public Radio, and WXXI’s With Heart and Voice regularly broadcast tracks, via NPR, from the Schola’s CDs. With organists Edoardo Bellotti and Stephen Kennedy, the Schola and dual organs performed a “guided improvisation” accompaniment to Carl Dryer’s 1928 silent classic La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc for Eastman’s 2014 EROI Festival and the University of Rochester’s interdisciplinary UCIS Cluster on Music and Film.  In 2017, the Schola performed two featured concerts for the AMS National Convention in Rochester which included motets from Praetorius’s Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica with early instrumentalist specialists from around the country as well as collaborating with Ensemble Perihipsous (Michael E. Ruhling, Music Director) in their debut concert with the Haydn Requiem. The Schola has recorded for Arsis and Loft labels and its latest CD is of 19th century French choral music with Belgian keyboardist Joris Verdin on Eastman’s vintage Mustel harmonium. The ensemble is comprised of Rochester-area musicians, Eastman School of Music faculty and students, and RIT faculty. Participation in the Schola is offered for course credit at the Eastman School of Music.