A renewed organization serving musicians in traditional worship settings plans its second post-pandemic gathering next month in Rock Hill, S.C.
Polyphony’s conference, titled “The Call: Reclaiming Our Deep Passion,” will be held Feb. 1-3 at Oakland Baptist Church and Grace Lutheran Church in Rock Hill, which is located immediately south of Charlotte, N.C.
Polyphony’s goals include strengthening current church musicians and a next generation of church musicians in a changing church culture.
Schedules and registration are available online.
Program highlights include sessions on:
- Working with aging singing voices
- Nurturing the call in future church musicians
- Exploration of choral anthems old and new
- Understanding findings of a national research project
Presenters include:
- Filippa Duke, director of music and worship arts at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in downtown Raleigh, N.C.
- G. Huff, semi-retired from 40 years of music ministry in local churches and an active hymn writer
- Julie Merritt Lee, a spiritual director based in Houston who previously served as pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C.
- Jeremy Mims, associate professor of music and director of choral activities at Winthrop University.
- Aaron Rice, chair of the Department of Music and associate professor of music at Gardner-Webb University, where he directs the Music and Worship Leadership Studies program.
- Suzanne Ringer, associate minister for music and community involvement at Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, S.C.
- Kristen Wonderlich, who teaches voice, diction, art song literature and vocal pedagogy at Winthrop. She also serves as president of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Polyphony, originally formed in 2007, has found new life post-pandemic and is led by Doug Haney, who recently retired as associate pastor and minister of music at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.