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The Handbell Ensemble, provides music about once per month at different weekend Masses during the academic year. The group also rings for the annual Festival Service of Lessons and Carols.

Rehearsals are held on Thursdays from 6:30pm to 7:15pm in the Music Room from September to May.

The Handbell Ensemble is a low time commitment group and is perfect for those of you who may still be too timid to sing in a choir. While the ability to read music at a basic level is preferred, it is not mandatory. If you are interested in learning more about the Handbell ensemble, please call office: 301-530-1550.

We would love to have you!

The primary role of the Cantor is to proclaim the Responsorial Psalm at Mass. Cantors also sing the verse to the Gospel Acclamation, as well as verses to the music during the Communion Procession. In addition, Cantors sing hymns and service music with the congregation.

Cantors are not soloists, they are proclaimers of the Word. Just as lectors read, cantors sing.

The goal of the cantor is not to overpower the congregation, but to blend with them in sung prayer. 

The Cantor ministry is open to qualified singers by audition.

Questions? 301-530-1550 or send an email to our Director of Music at giuliano.grisi@stjanedechantal.org

The Contemporary Ensemble provides musical leadership through contemporary song and praise at the Sunday 5pm Mass with a 4pm rehearsal prior to Mass. Membership in the ensemble is open to anyone, especially teens, young adults, and families. With no weekly rehearsal obligation, this choir is perfect for busy working professionals who want to share their musical gifts but are unable to commit to a weekday rehearsal. In addition to singers, instrumentalists are encouraged to join, as well. For more information, contact Patrice Roe. 

Zyda Culpepper, soprano, is an Alabama native and second-year member of the Maryland Opera Studio pursuing a Master’s degree in Opera Performance. Ms. Culpepper is a recent graduate of the University of Alabama where she pursued a Bachelor of Music degree and was a student of Dr. David Tayloe. Roles performed with the University of Alabama Opera Theatre include Anna Fenton/Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Caroline in the world premiere of Freedom and Fire! A Civil War Story, Zerlina/Don Giovanni, and Emma Jones/Street Scene. She performed the role Angelina/Trial by Jury with Greensboro Light Opera and Song. Partial roles include Laetitia/The Old Maid and the Thief, as well as Clorinda//La Cenerentola and Lisette/La Rondine performed at the Bassi Brugnatelli Symposium in Robbiate, Italy. She made her MOS debut as Sarah Palmer in the world premiere of Town Hall. Recently with the MOS, she has covered the roles of Servilia/La clemenza di Tito and Soeur Constance/Dialogues des Carmélites. Ms. Culpepper will be making her role debut as Susanna in MOS’s fall production of Le nozze di Figaro.

Stephanie Conticchio (Alto)

Chuck Hoag has been a member of the St. Jane DeChantal parish since 1992 and has sung with the Adult Choir for almost as long. He has served as the Tenor Section Leader since September of 2007 and has sung with two Papal Choirs - for Pope Benedict in 2008 and for Pope Francis in 2015.  He teaches Math and Engineering at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland and directs and performs for various theatre groups in the Washington DC area, most recently with the British Players, a non-profit theatre group that performs regularly in Kensington, Md. and with the Brothers Flanagan, a barbershop quartet the performs in the DC area. 

 

Arthur LaRue started choral singing in Oregon, and continued that in Minnesota before coming to Maryland. He has with a wide variety of choral groups, singing Renaissance music and brand new pieces, and a lot in between. As well as his work here at St. Jane Frances de Chantal, where he’s in his 7th year, he sings with the Master Singers of Virginia…and in between the singing he is a librarian in Hagerstown, Maryland.