Are you looking for a positive spiritual practice?
Are you looking for community?
Do you love music?
This Sunday, come sing with the Union Church Choir!
Only one rehearsal per week, 9:30 Sunday mornings
in the Union Church Sanctuary, Ridge Boulevard at 80th Street
Contact Vince Peterson 718.745.0438 or unionchurch@earthlink.net
Want to be on the email list for Union Church Concerts? email ucoffice@earthlink.net
 
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The Brooklyn Eagle hailed the music ministry of Union Church as a "stunning Bay Ridge symphony of the sacred and secular". The music program is progressive and innovative. It is inviting, dynamic and multicultural, reflecting the past, the present, and the future.
At the heart of the music program is the human voice: the Union Church Choir, which is open to anyone who wishes to sing. Our choir is an excellent group of singers from various backgrounds, some of whom have formal training, some of whom simply love to sing, and each of whom offers his or her unique gifts to the glory of God.
Choir rehearsals are Sunday mornings at 9:30. There is no previous experience necessary, and no weeknight rehearsal. Our choir sings 1-2 anthems per week in Sunday worship, plus two major works per season. We have openings for all voice parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass/baritone. If you are interested in joining the Union Church Choir, please contact the church office at 718-745-0438 or email unionchurch@earthlink.net.
The Union Church Sanctuary is home to an excellent pre-aeolian Skinner pipe organ. In the fall of 2007, the church session began a major renovation of the console, the inside of which was replaced with all new computerized parts. The organ supports the singing of the congregation and choir in hymns, anthems, and service music, and sounds alone in worship voluntaries and afternoon recitals.
Union Church of Bay Ridge is also home to The Academy of Union Church. This fine professional orchestra (most of whose members live in Brooklyn) gives annual outreach concerts for Bay Ridge schools with a Sunday promenade concert for families, and its members also lend their talents to worship on special occasions. Repertoire includes Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Schubert's Fifth Symphony, and the Brooklyn Premiere of Trilogy for the Endangered Species by San Francisco composer Candace Forest.
Gordon Schermer, Minister of Music
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GORDON SCHERMER is an extremely versatile musician equally at home in opera,
art song, musical theater and chamber music. Mr. Schermer is recognized for his
thorough knowledge of the vocal repertoire and innate skill for languages, Italian being a
particular specialty. He regularly plays in the studios of acclaimed voice teachers such as
Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, Mignon Dunn and Edith Bers (chair, The Juilliard School) and
coaches their students as well as accompanying them in recital.
In the fall of 2010, Mr.
Schermer acted as music director for All Caught Up, a new musical comedy, playing
performances at the Broadway Comedy Club for six weeks. In 2009, Mr. Schermer was
invited to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School as a fellowship coach. There he
served as the children’s chorus master for Puccini’s La bohème and rehearsal pianist/
coach for Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. In addition to his operatic duties, he was also
chosen to play the Verdi Requiem for renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin.
Mr. Schermer
was hired as an assisstant coach for Opera New Jersey in 2007 where he prepared
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Gilbert & Sullivan’s The
Pirates of Penzance. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he prepared
productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea
and Bernstein’s Candide with the late Jerry Hadley. He was selected as the official
accompanist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Central Illinois
district in both 2006 and 2007.
He has served on the music staff of the Austrian-American Mozart Academy in Salzburg, Austria, and the Scuola Italia Corso Estivo per
Giovani Cantanti Lirici in Urbania, Italy and has appeared in master classes given by
Marilyn Horne, Sherrill Milnes, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Catherine Malfitano,
Nathan Gunn, Lauren Flanigan, Eric Halfvarson, William Matteuzzi and Sharon Sweet.
Mr. Schermer is also a gifted conductor and has appeared in concert with the University
of Illinois Symphony Orchestra in a 250th anniversary celebration of the birth of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Mr. Schermer now resides in
Manhattan. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s Degree in Accompanying from Manhattan
School of Music.
BRUCA
BRUCA has its own website. Click here for a link to www.BRUCA.org
BRUCA is the Bay Ridge-Union Center for the Arts. BRUCA is a fully-equipped pottery studio where you or your child can learn to make pottery, tiles, fired sculptures, and just about anything that can be made from clay. Our studio is offering classes in clay for adults and children.
Playgroup: The Union Church Playgroup is for toddlers and preschoolers and their parent or caregiver. We run morning groups on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Our 3s and 4s group are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
The space is open, colorful, and child-focused, and features areas for both imaginative and physical play. Play areas include blocks, sand table, trains, dress-up, kitchen area, play house and pirate ship, doll house, books, puzzles, puppets, chalkboard, drawing easel and more. Children enjoy a weekly story, craft and fingerplay along with musical instruments and a provided snack.
Playgroup runs three 10-12-week sessions in fall, winter and spring, and a 6-week summer program.. Please contact Jen Kruger at 718-745-0438 for questions concerning our current schedule, fees and availability.
Playgroup is located downstairs in the Union Church Sanctuary (corner of 80th Street and Ridge Boulevard).
Gymnasium/Basketball: The Parish House of Union Church makes its gymnasium available to the community for evening, weekend, and summer rentals, in 2 hour time blocks. 120 people from Bay Ridge use this space, usually for basketball. The rental fee is $55 per hour and must be scheduled in advance. To reserve space, please contact Jennifer at 718-745-0438 or email her at ucoffice@earthlink.net.
click here for link to Union Church newsletter page
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