Our Adult Choir is a mixed ensemble of volunteers and some of New York’s elite professional singers. The music program explores literature that spans the past millennia and multiple cultures during the Sunday morning 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist, and at Choral Compline on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 p.m. We are also known for our Jazz Masses, which occur during special feasts and other times throughout the year.

This is an audition-based choir. Members are expected to match pitch, read musical notation, and have a minimal understanding of music theory. To set up an audition, please contact the choirmaster, John Cantrell, at jcantrell@saintmichaelschurch.org or 212.222.2700.

Youth Choir registration is OPEN for 2024–25! Sign up HERE.

St. Michael’s Church offers a completely free Youth Choir Program for schoolchildren of every age. Fostering community, leadership, and Episcopal identity through choral singing, the Youth Choir Program at St. Michael’s provides choristers with a solid foundation in healthy vocal technique and comprehensive musicianship training as well as friendships to last a lifetime.

The Cherub Choir provides singers with a solid foundation on which to build a lifelong love of choral music. Singers gain confidence and independence while learning the fundamentals of music theory, music literacy, and healthy vocal technique in an environment that encourages leadership and cooperation. Cherub Choir repertoire explores partner songs, rounds, and canons as well as folk songs, multicultural music, and classical compositions.

Rehearsals: Wednesday, 4 – 4:30 p.m. in the Parish House Recital Hall
**Families may opt for free drop-off option from 4 – 5:30 p.m. Children are engaged by activities, conversation and a light snack before and after their scheduled rehearsal time.

The Angel Choir builds on the skills gained in the Cherub Choir. Singers develop a deeper understanding of pitch, rhythm, and harmony as music literacy continues to improve. More advanced repertoire leads to opportunities for greater vocal independence as the choir performs compositions in two and three parts. Singers explore poetry and history through the texts we sing as we build connections to the world around us through music.

Rehearsals: Wednesday, 4:30 – 5:10 p.m. in the Parish House Recital Hall
**Families may opt for free drop-off option from 4 – 5:30 p.m. Children are engaged by activities, conversation and a light snack before and after their scheduled rehearsal time.

The Saint Cecilia Choir is the most advanced and only mixed-voice choir in St. Michael’s Church’s Youth Choir Program. Choristers sing three- and four-part works from the Renaissance to today in a wide variety of styles and languages. Musicianship skills and music literacy are cemented while appropriate vocal technique for the maturing voice is reinforced. Additionally, singers are occasionally invited to perform with the St. Michael’s Choir, an invaluable opportunity to sing with skilled adult and professional singers.

Rehearsals: Wednesday, 5:15 p.m. – 6 p.m. in the Parish House Recital Hall
**An optional youth dinner and devotional follows rehearsal from 6:05 – 6:25 p.m.

• Mechanical key action
• Electric solenoid stop action
• Solid-State combination action
• 3 manuals, 38 stops, 55 ranks

The Rudolf von Beckerath organ, completed in September 1967, is an eclectic instrument at home with music of all periods, but is a particularly fine exponent of both German Baroque and French Classic music. A modern organ case of hand-rubbed limba, a blond wood sometimes called African mahogany, rises 31 feet from the rear gallery floor, with the Rückpositiv in a separate case mounted on the gallery rail. Robert Huddleston, organist and choirmaster, dedicated the organ on Sunday, September 17, 1967, and on October 8, 1967, Leonard Raver played the first of a series of monthly organ recitals.

In the fall of 1995, the Beckerath firm completely cleaned and overhauled the organ, but no tonal changes were made.

For more detailed information about the organs at St. Michael’s, and to view images, please visit the NYC Organ project website.

In offering as diverse a sacred music program as possible, a 1955 Hammond C3 organ and Leslie cabinet (147) was purchased to better offer sacred roots music such as Gospel, Jazz, and other Americana musical forms, with better authenticity.