Organist and Choir Director

Organist and Choir Director St. Columba’s Chapel, Middletown, RI

Summary: St. Columba’s Chapel, an Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rhode Island, seeks an experienced organist and choir director for worship services in its beautiful, historic chapel in Middletown, RI. The position requires playing at all Sunday and feast day services and rehearsing and directing its volunteer choir.

Timing: Our current organist and choir director is scheduled to retire on September 1st, 2025. Our goal is to have a replacement selected and ready to begin at that time.

Schedule: Sunday morning service at 10 AM every week, special/evening services, weddings and funerals as scheduled. The choir currently sings two Sundays per month from September to June. Regular choir rehearsals are weekly on Thursday evenings. A shorter rehearsal is also held before the service on the two Sunday mornings per month that the choir sings.

Vacation: The church will pay substitute organists for up to 4 Sundays per calendar year excluding major feast days.

Reporting: The organist and choir director reports to and works under the direction of the Rector. The music budget (including organ tuning, repairs and maintenance) is under the supervision and direction of the Vestry of St. Columba’s Chapel.

Requirements:

· Education: Bachelor of Music in Organ or Bachelor of Arts in Music

· Experience: 5 years as Organist and Choir Director

· Fluency and confidence in organ performance: employing appropriate and musically pleasing registrations, arrangements, tempos and volume, appropriate repertoire for preludes, postludes and interludes, hymn singing and choir accompaniment, weddings, and funerals.

· Ease and experience rehearsing and performing with our joyful and loyal volunteer choir including teaching new repertoire, teaching and encouraging singers and encouraging membership by ensuring a culture of respect for each other and the music.

· Willingness and ability to learn and adhere to the specific requirements of the beautiful, broad-church liturgy of St. Columba’s Chapel at the direction of the Rector.

· A working knowledge of the hymnody of The Episcopal Church including Hymnal 1982, LEVAS and Wonder, Love and Praise.

· A positive, warm and respectful approach to working with the rector, wardens, vestry, staff, choir members, parishioners, neighbors and visitors of St. Columba’s.

· Completion of Safe Church Training within xxx days of being hired.

Specific Responsibilities:

· Add beautiful and appropriate music to regular Sunday services and special services for Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Easter, St. Francis Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas eve, special celebrations and events that may be scheduled from time to time.

· Ensure that hymns, preludes, postludes and anthems are aligned with the lectionary and liturgical season and the worship of St. Columba’s, working with and under the direction of the Rector.

· Plan, schedule, rehearse and perform anthems that match both the choir’s ability and the liturgical calendar.

· Plan, prepare for and play weddings and funerals as your schedule permits.

· Maintain the organ in tuned and working condition and serve the point of contact for all organ tuners and technicians.

About St. Columba’s Chapel

Address: 55 Vaucluse Avenue, Middletown RI, 02842

Phone: 401-847-5571

Website: stcolumbaschapel.org

Rector: The Rev. Anne Bolles-Beaven

Who are we

We believe that our worship, our study of Holy Scripture, our fellowship at St. Columba's, and what we do in God’s world really matters—to us, to God and to the world. We believe the world needs to know that there is more than the heartache and injustice on the daily news. There is a God who made us, loves us, and will never let us go and we are committed to learning to walk in that love.

We are a people of hope who enjoy being together and doing God’s work in the church, in the parish hall and in the world. We aim to be a people living into the “gifts of the spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in everything we do.

St. Columba’s is also a growing and well-run parish. Attendance, outreach, involvement and pledging are growing each year. Applicants should visit our website: stcolumbaschapel.org and learn more about our parish, including watching a video of a Sunday Sermon by our rector.

Our parish today

St. Columba's is home to a vibrant, spiritually engaged congregation, as well as an open house for all who seek a closer relationship with God. Its programs include community outreach, Sunday school, choir, and bible study, and it gathers to enjoy and host events and celebrations throughout the year: a Shrove Tuesday celebration, a St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals, the Christmas tea and pageant, and an annual English garden party that draws guests from around and beyond Aquidneck Island.

A parish of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rhode Island, Bishop Nicholas Knisely presiding, St. Columba's celebrates its Anglican heritage with respect for Scripture, tradition, and reason, and a deep appreciation for the way our faith is nourished by liturgy, music, and art, and expressed through service to others.

Our organ

St. Columba’s is blessed to enjoy an historic, 21 rank, Aeolian-Skinner organ with two manuals (Swell and Great) and pedal. The organ was installed in 1937 and has been carefully and lovingly maintained.

Our music program

St. Columba’s loves music and supports and engages with its organist and choir director as a valued member of the staff and the parish community. We value and respect the talent and hard work that it takes to be a successful organist and choir director and appreciate the important responsibility the role has in making our worship joyful and inspiring.

With a longstanding tradition of delight in musical excellence, the parish hosts musical events, including an annual concert series of music from classical, to gospel, to barbershop, to Jazz.

Parishioners love to sing the hymns on Sunday mornings and join in with gusto. We care deeply about excellence in our worship but are not fussy or critical. We want to bring our very best to Almighty God each day and yet we are human, nonetheless.

Our history

St. Columba’s enjoys both a rich history, in its beautiful 19th-century stone chapel, and the modern convenience of a spacious parish house built in 2001.

Eugene Sturtevant dreamed of developing the land on the southeastern coast of Middletown. Mary Clark Sturtevant, his wife, saw the need for a chapel. In 1882, Mr. Sturtevant donated an acre for this purpose. A Philadelphia architect, Wilson Eyre, Jr., designed the chapel.

The chapel was consecrated on August 31, 1886, as a mission of the Diocese of Rhode Island by Bishop Clark. The small stone building contains an astounding collection of stained-glass windows, most designed by David Maitland Armstrong and fabricated by Tiffany Studios of New York. In its early history, the chapel had a close association with Saint George’s School in Middletown. Many of the ordained teachers officiated at services, and before the school’s own chapel was built in 1928, boys walked to St. Columba’s for Sunday worship.

Through the work of the Historic Preservation Trust of St. Columba’s, the Chapel roof, stonework, the historic Booth Window, our heritage beech trees, and the drainage of our churchyard have all recently been repaired and restored. The church is ready for the next century of work and worship.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $17,000.00 - $20,000.00 per year

Expected hours: 7 – 15 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Holidays

Education:

• Bachelor's (Required)

Experience:

• Church Organist: 5 years (Required)

Ability to Commute:

• Middletown, RI 02842 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Middletown, RI 02842: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $17,000 - $20,000