Board of Worship and Fine Arts

It has been another amazing year at AHCC thanks to the vision and leadership of so many talented volunteers and board members who work in and through Worship and Fine Arts. First, I must acknowledge how blessed we are by the leadership and inspiration that Steve Mitchell provides to our church as Minister of Music & Arts. His spirit, energy and vision help us to focus on not only what must be done, but what can be done.

We are fortunate to have the commitment of so many people who make up the four primary groups of WFA – Music, Theater, Visual Arts, and The Boar’s Head Festival. Our Music Ministry continues to shine as a beacon of spiritual and spirited worship leadership and community outreach, partnering with local congregations in concert and performing for The Children’s Home Society Banquet in Cromwell, CT. The Sanctuary Choir’s Palm Sunday performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with pianist Amy Champagne attracted more than 500 people - in addition to the more than 1200 in worship that morning. Theater On The Hill, our local thespians, gifted us with a memorable reprise of The Shadow Box, a play which deals with the challenges and joys of death and dying. Under the leadership of John Avignon and the coaching of Bob Davis, this revival was presented in partnership with three regional hospice organizations. The performances spoke deeply to the cast and our church membership as we all struggled to support Jay Baker and Rob Scanlon through Rob’s battle with ALS. Visual Arts, a group of artists and enthusiastic others who have a passion for the visual aspects of life, filled the walls with art created by church members and local artists, including our Hill Quilters, a major exhibition of original works by historic American artist Adolph Dehn, the poignant photographic images of an Ecuadorian medical mission from Derek Dudek, and the massive and powerful abstract expressionism of local artist Zbigniew Grzyb. Our annual Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival brought together more than 450 church members to dream with and guide this yearly community musical and visual feast. This event alone brings countless new members to AHCC. Add to all of this the ongoing work of our Hill Quilters (Barbara Matthews), poetry readings (Ron Georgeff and Sherri Bedingfield) and flower arranging (Alice Luster and the Thanksgiving altar), the Choir Club and Cherub Choirs and you get just a glimpse of the many ways the Board of Worship and Fine Arts is at work in the life of our church.

Our Asylum Hill Arts Series combined nationally and internationally known classical and jazz artists with the musical, artistic and theatrical gifts of Hartford and AHCC. The Chamber Music/Afternoon Tea Concerts that feature AHCC members have been a great success, inspiring us to expand the number of performances. In 2007 we featured church members Emery Tapley, Martha Kayser, Amy Champagne, David Bradley, and Lisa Kugelman. Our Sanctuary Series showcased The Vienna Choir Boys, John Scofield, Eliane Elias, Rev. Gary Miller, and Jolie Rocke Brown, attracting thousands of people from across the region to this historic church.

In October of 2007, AHCC became the new home for the Simone Belsky Piano Competition - an international competition for pianists 30 years of age or older who wish to pursue or re-energize their solo performance careers. With a committed team of volunteers and the leadership of Alice and Dan Ferraina, 6 finalists came to Hartford to perform before a panel of prestigious judges in an afternoon of stunning musical excellence. The winner, Christopher Atzinger will perform on the Asylum Hill Arts Series in March of 2008. Dan and Alice Ferraina have chosen to further support this competition and its new home at AHCC by providing a sizable gift to establish an endowment to fund the piano competition in perpetuity.

On Easter Sunday 2007, our new organist Daniel J. Campolieta played his first worship service at AHCC - no pressure there. Since that time, Dan has provided beautiful music in worship and enthusiastic collaboration with Steve Mitchell in the music ministry. In addition, Dan has directed the Choir Club, organized music and musicians for the UCC Synod in Hartford (including original compositions), helped manage the Simone Belsky Piano Competition, performed a full recital on the Arts Series and composed new music for the Boar’s Head Festival - all while completing his degree at UCONN! We look forward to an expanded and expanding role for Dan in the life of this church. We are grateful to David Bradley who served as our Interim Organist while simultaneously chairing the work of the Organist Search Committee that ultimately brought Dan to us.

As a dedicated, enthusiastic group of Christians who believe that Music and the Arts are windows to the presence of the Creator, we look to find and create opportunities to reach out to the congregation, the Asylum Hill Neighborhood, and the greater Hartford community. In this effort, we partnered in 2007 with The Hartford Conservatory (rehearsals and performances), Spectrum in Motion (worship and Boar’s Head), Hartford Symphony Orchestra (Musical Dialogues), CT Opera (Family Day performances and Chamber Series), The Preston Fund Summer Concerts (Musical Friends event), the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz series (rain location), Wallace Stevens Walk (stone marker on Asylum Ave), and the CT Conference UCC (Synod and 50th Anniversary Celebration).

The Arts are alive and well at AHCC - get involved!

Respectfully submitted,

Daniel S. Hansen, Chair, Board of Worship & Fine Arts