Music
Our Choirs
First Church has a vibrant music program including:
- The Sanctuary Choir (adult) which sings standard choral repertoire, anthems and major works.
- The Chalice Lights: a choir for small children.
- The Young Unitarians: a choir for youth.
- Kolozsvar: a group for teens.
- The Singing Circle: a group of congregants who meet regularly before service to join in singing rounds and other group songs.
- The Augmented Sanctuary Choir: sings several times yearly on special occasions which require a larger ensemble of singers.
- Guest musicians and Soloists regularly appear before our congregation during services to bring special music throughout the year.
Special Music Services and Choir Concerts
The First Church choirs regularly present great masterworks of choral literature. In recent years these works have included masterworks of Schubert, Palestrina and many others. They also present concerts featuring a variety of short pieces centered around a theme. Such programs typically include the participation of the different constituents of the music program.
Choir Tours
The First Church Choirs, their family and friends have taken tours and pilgrimages to Eastern Europe the most recent trip was in 2006. On these trips our members engage themselves in good will service projects and singing.
Our Music Staff
Music Director, Jason Oby, a singer and choir director has worked in church music for nearly 25 years. He has sung professionally as a soloist throughout the U.S. as well as in Asia and Europe and is particularly appreciated for his work as an artistic interpreter of art songs. He won several prestigious prizes in his early study and career. He holds degrees (BM, MM) from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied voice with Adele Addison. He completed a Doctor of Music degree at Florida State University where he studied voice with Yvonne Cianella and conducting with Rodney Eichenberger. He is a full professor of music and coordinator of the voice area at Texas Southern University and has also taught masterclasses in voice at the University of California Sacramento, Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, the College at Senzoku Gakuen Yokohama, Japan and other high schools, colleges and universities.
Organist-Pianist Bob Fazakerly has been with First Church since 1981. He studied music at the University of Southern California and holds degrees in music from the University of Houston and Rice University. During those years he gave two of the earliest recitals on the Schantz organ when it was newly-installed at St. Paul's Methodist, won Rice's Perkins Prize, and was among the first group of Shepherd School graduates in organ. Bob is also the procurement manager for Houston ISD. He is married with three sons.
Our music staff is augmented by the efforts of many talented volunteers.
Our Facility
First Church enjoys a longstanding reputation as a center of fine music making. Located in the center of the Museum District, its sanctuary is sought after by Houston's premier musicians as a venue to present recitals and chamber music because of the superior acoustics.
The Sanctuary is graced with two fine keyboard instruments. The German Baroque specified organ, in its current configuration, has 38 ranks with great, swell, and pedal divisions. The present instrument was originally constructed by John Fort (Dallas) in the early 1960s and was dedicated by Robert Jones, Professor of Organ at UH for many years. It was built as a two-manual instrument and originally had no pedal. In the mid-1970s the pedal was added by Visser Rowland. In the early 1990s, when our present Channing Hall and the upper two stories were added to the building, an unfinished roof and a huge storm conspired to flood the organ. Visser Rowland was consulted and concluded that the instrument was a total loss. But a second consultation was sought from Roy Redman of the Redman Organ Company who, counter to the conventional wisdom, saved the organ. The last major renovation work done was by Roy in 2003.
The 7 foot 6 inch Yamaha grand piano was purchased in 1990 with money secured through a considerable fund raising effort organized for that purpose. It replaced a Kawai grand that had served the congregation well but was not adequate to meet the needs of the vital music-loving congregation which desired an instrument suitable to satisfy the finest pianists and collaborative musicians. With the purchase of the new piano, came the founding of The Channing Concerts, a series with the mission to bring the best in chamber music to Houston audiences free of charge.
Resident Groups
- The Channing Concerts has the mission of bringing the best in chamber music to Houston audiences free of charge. The series was named in honor of William Ellery Channing. Dean Dalton, Paul Cooper (Rice University Professor and Composer-in-Residence), James Mathis (concert pianist, friend and colleague of Van Cliburn), and Bob Fazakerly organized the effort and located and purchased the piano with the funds that had been raised. The Channing Concerts first season was launched in 1991.
- Col Canto is a 501 (c) 3 organization that presents uniquely conceived art song and vocal chamber music concerts. The programs feature French, German, British, American, and newly composed works. The organization exists to present and promote the performance of art song literature.
- The Greenbriar Consortium a group of Houston Symphony musicians and friends who bring a wide variety of music to our sanctuary each and every year.
Other Notable Activities
First Church emphasizes a connection with the Ima Hogg Young Artists' Competition, and has provided a solo recital venue for many of the prize winners throughout the years. It has provided a valuable concert venue to many of our best local musicians, and has also brought in artists from distant locations.