Here at Heavenly Rest, music centers around worship life, music education, and creative partnerships. Our choirs of all-ages sing for weekly services, and we celebrate our core traditions with music including Lessons and Carols, the neighborhood Christmas Pageant, Holy Week and Easter. We honor our Anglican heritage, while bringing excellence in a variety of styles from jazz to new music featuring guest artists and composers. Our instrument collection includes an 8000-pipe Austin Organ, Steinway pianos and handbells. Whether you love to sing or are looking for family-friendly activities and concerts, we have a program for you!
CHR Adult Choir
The Choir of Church of the Heavenly Rest brings together 35 volunteer singers and talented section leaders in a welcoming and dedicated community. The CHR Choir leads music for the Sunday 11am Eucharist and seasonal liturgies. Recent season highlights include singing the Fauré Requiem, the 2023 World Premiere of a new Psalm Cycle, and a jazz service hosting Presiding Bishop Michael Curry with Theodicy Jazz Collective. Rehearsals take place on Sunday morning and afternoon from September through May. If you have past experience singing in a choir, have a blending voice, and can read music easily, we’d love to hear from you!
Children, Youth and Families
Does your child love music? We offer free choral and music education programs for young people ages 3-18 on Wednesdays and Sundays during the school year. All of our activities are open to the neighborhood and community, and we would love for your family to join us! Learn more below:
Early Childhood Music and Movement (age 3-grade K): On Wednesday afternoons from September through May, children ages 3-grade K learn music basics through joyful singing, movement, and games, led by Teaching Artists Lydia Saylor, Sarah Colt and Ana Smith. This class participates in the Wednesday evening Family Service and special Sunday mornings, and prepares to join the Junior Choristers.
Junior and Senior Choristers (grades 1-6): During the school year, each Wednesday from September through May, Junior and Senior Choristers learn fundamentals of choral singing, music theory, sight reading and team-building skills. These classes are led by Director of Music Janet Yieh and Chorister-Music Associate Jennifer Lane. The Choristers sing music from the Anglican Choral tradition and a diversity of styles for the 11:00 am Sunday Eucharist at Heavenly Rest, on the First Sunday of each month. They are featured alongside the Adult Choir for special occasions including Christmas and Easter.
Heavenly Rest Youth Cooperative Choir (grades 7-12): On Sunday afternoons following Youth Group, middle and high school youth singers are invited to meet from 1:45 pm - 2:15 pm with Director of Music Janet Yieh and Chorister-Music Associate Jennifer Lane. This choir will learn music which can be enjoyed within our Heavenly Rest Community, shared out in our neighborhood and around New York.
We would love for any child interested in singing, to make this weekly rehearsal and monthly church service commitment at Heavenly Rest. Enrollment closes September 1st and January 1st, and all new choristers are invited to a Singing Placement meeting.
Seasonal Music Activities
Annual Christmas Pageant:
Our December Christmas Pageant is a traditional and lively retelling of the Nativity story in scripture and carols. Children from the parish and the neighborhood sing every role – Mary, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel, the Three Wise Men, and scores of angels, shepherds, heavenly hosts, and tumblers. Rehearsals begin Wednesday, December 6, 2023 and continue weekly until the performance on December 24th. Sign-up for the December 2023 Pageant.
Summer Camp:
During the first week of August, we offer a neighborhood Music & Arts Camp for elementary-aged children. This day-camp focused on building an appreciation for singing, includes arts and crafts, field trips, guest teaching artists, and culminates in a performance for friends and family at Church of the Heavenly Rest. Sign-up for our mailing list to receive information for August 2024.
Handbells:
Our handbell choir group includes those of all levels of experience who enjoy playing as part of an ensemble in sacred settings, and occasionally outdoors! We perform for special occasions, such as Christmas and Easter, with a rehearsal or two prior to the event. We welcome new members; necessary skills are a sense of rhythm and basic ability to read music notation.
Meet Our Music Team
Director of Music: Janet Yieh
Director of Music Janet Yieh leads our vibrant music program for all ages here at Heavenly Rest. An innovative concert recitalist and sacred music specialist, Janet has been lauded for her “expressivity and technical prowess” (The American Organist). She has performed throughout the United States and across the globe, highlights include: New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Washington’s National Cathedral, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, Yale University’s Woolsey Hall, Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia; collaboration with the Paul Winter Consort, the Washington Chorus at The Kennedy Center, NOVUS NY orchestra at Carnegie Hall; the American Guild of Organists’ 2022 National Convention and the Association of Anglican Musicians’ National Conference; the national radio show Pipedreams, WQXR-FM and two CD recordings.
In 2020, Janet co-founded a new platform ‘Amplify Female Composers’ with Carolyn Craig, and she contributes research to an international sacred music database called “A Great Host of Women Composers.” Janet has taught on the faculty for POEs and the St. Thomas Fifth Avenue Girl Chorister Course, and played as staff organist for RSCM America Duke University and Rhode Island courses. She is an executive board member of the New York City American Guild of Organists and a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians. A Taiwanese-American native of Alexandria, Virginia, Janet holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and The Juilliard School. While at Yale, she was appointed Organ Scholar at Christ Church, New Haven and Trinity Church on the Green, and directed music for Berkeley Divinity School. www.janetyieh.com
Chorister-Music Associate: Jennifer Lane
Chorister Music Associate Jennifer Lane is a passionate music educator, singer and choral conductor. Her responsibilities include co-teaching the choristers at our weekly afternoon rehearsals, singing with the CHR choir, music library administration, and assisting at seasonal services and concerts. Mollie Nichols gave her a choral directing start, right here at Heavenly Rest with the Children’s Choir 2002. Since then, she has worked with choristers and choir members of all ages at St. Stephen’s in Ridgefield, CT, and St. Paul’s on the Green Norwalk, CT. She has also taught Elementary and Middle School General Music in Connecticut and in Missouri. Jennifer has an undergraduate degree in music from Bryn Mawr College and a masters degree in music education from University of Bridgeport.
2022-24 Yale ISM Organ
Scholar: Joseph Ferguson
In partnership with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, our Heavenly Rest Organ Scholar Internship program aims to provide promising young organists with a commitment to music ministry, an opportunity to learn practical hymn playing and choir training skills in a large, supportive Episcopal Church.
2022-24 Yale ISM Organ Scholar: Joseph Ferguson is an organist and pianist from Little Silver, New Jersey. Currently a graduate student of organ at Yale University in the studio of Martin Jean, he maintains keen interests in improvisation and liturgy. He has played regularly at churches throughout New Jersey, his past organ instructors have included Vincent Carr and Renée Anne Louprette, and he has completed courses on Catholic sacred music at St. Joseph’s Seminary & College in Yonkers, New York. Previously, Joseph earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano from Rutgers University and McGill University respectively.
Interested in making music? Reach out to Music Director, Janet Yieh
jyieh@heavenlyrest.org, 212-289-3400