Saint Paul’s Parish, Riverside, Illinois, an Episcopal (Anglican) Church in the Catholic tradition is seeking a Part-Time Parish Musician to help facilitate the full active participation of the people in the worship of the triune God. Saint Paul’s is committed to the renewed tradition of Gregorian chant in the Mass. We chant both the Ordinary of the Mass and minor propers in modern English in our fully-acoustic historic 19th century parish church. We seek a skilled and passionate musical generalist who is excited both to learn and to teach in this context. We do not necessarily expect someone who has every skill we desire, but look for someone who is willing to grow with us into the role over time.

We are interested in the following in very roughly this order of importance:
Love and devotion to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through divine worship in the power of the Holy Spirit in his Holy Church.
Ability to train, direct, and encourage amateur volunteer cantors and occasional ensembles.
Significant familiarity with and appreciation of the Catholic chant tradition and early modal music.
Vocal ability to personally lead the congregation in chant and perform more complex chants.
Willingness to think and act creatively in conversation with the tradition: think occasionally incorporating amateur and professional musicians from the congregation on cello, soprano saxophone or percussion instruments, seeking out local early-instrument musicians for special services, and experimenting with instrumental methods of chant accompaniment.
Facility on a keyboard instrument and willingness to gain skill on the pipe organ chiefly to accompany chant and hymns, but possibly to perform sacred organ repertoire.

We anticipate that this person will have at minimum a Bachelor’s in Music or similar education.

In addition to our small unusually devout congregation and several volunteer cantors and musically-inclined parishioners, Saint Paul’s has as assets a 26-rank Austin electro-pneumatic action pipe organ, 21-rank Rieger tracker pipe organ, and an 8-bell Whitechapel change-ringing tower, one of only two in the Chicagoland. We have modest endowments for promoting chant, congregational singing, and providing Christmas and Triduum music that together yield nearly $4,000 annually for resources and special music.

Outside of Sunday mornings and major holy days in the evening, hours are very flexible. We are able to offer $15,000/yr. for ~12 hours/week with 4 Sundays/weeks off per year. For the right candidate we are willing to make generous allowances for time-off for other projects.
Send an e-mail expressing your interest along with a resume to Fr. Luke Wetzel, rector@stpaulsparish.org.

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