A concert planned by music director Lowell Mason at the church house on Fifth Avenue and 19th Street featured the
Academy of Music. Although it was a rainy night, 3,000 people attended, in person and nearby. According to pastor
Dr. James Alexander, “Numbers sat in the lobbies and saloons, of the very class who are never seen in church. The
collection covered the whole expense with 15 percent over.”

Jazz legend Duke Ellington performed his sacred music compositions in our Sanctuary, joined by singers Brock
Peters, Queen Esther Marrow and Jimmy McPhail, plus the Herman McCoy Choir and a 15-piece orchestra. Two
performances were recorded live and released by RCA Records in 1966. The concert introduced the song “In
the Beginning God,” which won a 1967 Grammy Award.

This challenging choral and orchestral piece by Polish-born composer Krzysztof Penderecki was performed at the
church as a benefit for the Arts Committee.

The popular jazz composer and pianist enjoyed a warm relationship with Senior Pastor Bryant Kirkland and performed his retelling of the Christmas story several times in our Sanctuary. The 1975 piece, inspired by the Mexican festival of the same name, honors Brubeck’s lifelong love of Mexican folk music. As he explained in a composer’s note, “The ethnic music reflects those qualities I admire most in people: dignity in moments of tragedy, infectious high spirits in moments of joy, and an unshakable religious faith, made evident in a strong sense of one’s own worth and a deep respect for the shared values of family, church, village.”

As part of Fifth Avenue’s 175th anniversary celebration, God Songs featured 80 professional performers, including orchestra, eight principal singers, 10 bell ringers from Brick Presbyterian Church and a 35-voice children’s choir from Somers Intermediate School. The first half of the program, “Church Music for the Theater,” consisted of operatic music and other staged works composed since the 1950s. The second half, “Theater Music for the Church,” offered two works by Jack Holmes, including the world premiere of “Fanfare to A Mighty Fortress.”

Three years after Dr. Ryan Jackson began a series of concerts in Kirkland Chapel, the 22-member Chamber Choir stunned audiences with a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s gorgeous Requiem, paired with the composer’s “Cantique de Jan Racine,” Herbert Howells’ “Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing,” and Edgar Bainton’s “And I Saw a New Heaven.”