Music
Great quality, inspirational music has always been an integral part of the worship and life of West Vancouver United Church: the Church is deeply committed to spiritual growth through choral and instrumental music. The finest instruments and musical leadership have been dedicated to achieve this.
A strong tradition of congregational singing is greatly supported by our beautiful Martin Pasi mechanical-action pipe organ. Our Bösendorfer 7 foot grand piano is also frequently used to accompany congregation, choir and soloists.
Since the 1940′s some of Canada’s finest church musicians have led the worship in our Sanctuary, including organists and choral conductors John Fearing, Barbara Johnson, Elinor McLean, Rupert Lang, and our incumbent since 1987, Gerald van Wyck. Soloists at the church have included the young Ben Heppner, Fraser Walters of the Canadian Tenors, composer Jason Nett, among many others.
The Choir, numbering over 30 members, is led by a group of young, professional singers and university scholarship students. An introit, anthem, and solos are typically provided each Sunday morning. Chosen by the relevance and inspiration of their text as well as by diversity of style these works offer profound interpretations and commentary on the weekly Scripture readings. Weekly Wednesday evening choir rehearsals are held in the Sanctuary. You are most welcome to join us!
The Choir is the core of our community music outreach programme, The Pacific Spirit Choir. An additional 40 to 50 members from the larger community of the North Shore join us for the latter portion of the Wednesday evening rehearsals to work on large scale choral works such as Bach’s Johannespassion, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem, which are presented as community concerts, with professional orchestral accompaniment. Recordings and web resources are often used to help choir members learn the repertoire inbetween rehearsals. The Pacific Spirit Choir is embarking on their fourth European Tour in May of 2012, travelling through the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Membership in this group is open to the entire community: visit the website at http://www.pacificspiritchoir.ca/ for more information, and enjoy some sounds from our “Dimensions” CD here:
The Pacific Spirit Children’s Choir is also hosted at our church. It seeks to inspire children ages 5 to 16 to a life-long love of music and singing, through fun filled rehearsals that focus on personal voice development. Visit the website at http://www.pschildrenschoir.ca/
The Martin Pasi Organ, Opus 10
The organ for West Vancouver United Church was built by Pasi and Associates of Roy, Washington and installed in the Sanctuary in April, 1998. It was custom designed for the renovated sanctuary to inspire the congregation in the singing of hymns, to accompany choirs and soloists, and to serve the broader community.
The organ has 31 stops played from two manuals and pedals, with one manual coupler and two pedal couplers. The organ has suspended mechanical key action and mechanical stop action. The 1851 pipes are arranged in 36 ranks. Most of these are made from a lead-tin alloy, with the wooden pipes made from tulip wood. The case, standing twenty-eight feet high, is made from cherry wood, with walnut inlays. The pipe shades, designed by Janet Lutz, an architect in the congregation, and carved by Martin Pasi, feature the provincial flower of British Columbia, the dogwood. The instrument weighs approximately eight tons. Although the case and tonal design of the organ are reminiscent of historical Dutch and North German instruments, the aim was to create a modern instrument capable of playing a wide range of musical repertoire, and performing a wide variety of accompanimental and solo functions.
The organ builder, Martin Pasi
Martin Pasi began his career in organ building during a four-year apprenticeship with the Rieger Company in his native Austria. During his apprenticeship he also attended the Organ Building School in Ludwigsburg Germany. In 1981 he emigrated to the United States and later to Canada to work with various organ builders, finally moving to Washington state in 1986. There he established his own firm in Roy, south of Tacoma, in 1990. Since that time he has built thirteen instruments with his associates. The instrument for West Vancouver United Church is his Opus 10.
Music Director Gerald van Wyck would be delighted to speak with you and answer any questions you may have regarding the music programme, our about any of our choirs. Please contact him at 604 808-5231.
