Above photo credit: David Higgs©2023

Sunday Night Compline with the Schola Cantorum

Sunday night Compline can be experienced every Sunday from October 6, 2024-April 27, 2025

Why I Sing, or

Did You Hear the One about

the Baptist Minister

and the Episcopal Choir?

The Rev’d Mark E. Ballard

“The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end.” Thus begins one of the highlights of my week, the service of Compline on Sunday evenings. I would imagine that among you readers there are others who feel the same, as attendance at Compline continues to grow. But unlike most of you readers, I am not a member of Christ Church. I’m not even an Episcopalian.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Rev. Mark E. Ballard, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Chili, and I am in my fourth season as a member of the Schola Cantorum. Yes, those rumors you’ve heard are correct. There really is a Baptist minister singing chants and anthems most Sundays between October and April, and I’ve been asked to share a few words as to why I do so.

I became involved three years ago after hearing many good things from my dear friend, Christopher Huebner, the assistant director of the Schola. I have always loved the music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. But most importantly, I felt a deep need for something spiritual that I was not in charge of. While leading worship in Chili, I often catch myself actually failing to worship. My mind keeps charging ahead to the next items in the bulletin. Far too often I’ve had the experience of reciting the Lord’s Prayer without actually praying the Lord’s Prayer.

I needed to have a regular opportunity to be encountered by God in worship unencumbered by the responsibility to make certain that everything fits together and works correctly. In this simple service of prayer, readings, and song, God has met my need. The Holy Spirit touches my spirit in a unique way at this time.

Compline has become so important to me that, despite the fact that I love both movies and sports, I have skipped watching the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and the seventh game of the World Series to sing of Good News and peace before the close of the day.

So, is Compline at Christ Church worship or a concert? As a Baptist, that’s an easy question to answer. Of course it is! It is both worship and concert. Baptist theology does not require the presence of priest or pastor to validate or consecrate worship, but “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Christ is present among us, and it is Jesus who consecrates our efforts to reach out to him as a community of faith – at least that’s what I believe and what I experience.

At the same time, we strive to do our best. I believe that, in worship, God does not demand perfection from us, but God does demand excellence. The same is true if I am performing in a concert. Perfection is an unreasonable goal. But excellence – the doing of one’s best in both preparation and performance – is the only goal worth striving for.

Finally, it is community which is at the heart of what we singers are doing and being in that circle of candlelight. We work hard up there. But we work hard at more than learning notes and words. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we blend our many voices into one voice; we offer our diverse gifts to the building up of the community; we submit our egos to become the Body of Christ and to proclaim the glory of God.

So thank you, Christ Church, for opening your doors to this American Baptist. No, I’m not about to change denominations; I deeply cherish that which makes me a Baptist. But more importantly, I cherish and affirm that which makes us Christians, and sisters and brothers in God’s family.

With all that in mind, I will conclude with the closing words of Compline, Deo Gratias – Thanks be to God!

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.