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About our music
Our congregation has a long tradition of supporting excellence and variety in music. For over a quarter of a century, the congregation has sponsored a jazz service the first Sunday in July, which is always free to the community. We host a monthly classical music series in conjunction with AHA! Night, the monthly New Bedford arts night. Until a few years ago, our Tryworks Coffee House brought some of the finest folk music performers to New Bedford -- and today, our folk music tradition lives on with the First Unitarian Folk Choir (see below).
About our annual jazz service
About our classical music series
Our music director
Randy M. Fayan, a graduate of Brown University, is our amazingly versatile, irrepressible, enthusiastic organist-pianist. He is a graduate of Brown University and studied classical piano under Linda Jorle and Diana Smirnov. His keyboard work is bright and spirited, and wonderfully varied from classical to jazz, to folk, to modern.
Once a month, our regular guest musician is Mana Washio. A graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Boston University School for the Arts, she plays principal flute with the New England Philharmonic.
First Unitarian Folk Choir and ensemble
The First Unitarian Folk Choir sings regularly in worship services. Songs are taught by ear, and singers are welcome to join whether or not they read music. Children are welcome to join their parents in singing. We rehearse each Monday evening from 7-9 p.m., and we sing each week except the last Sunday of the month (mid-September through mid-June). Our song leader is Dan Harper.
So far, our music has ranged from Appalachian folk songs, to songs from the British Isles, to blues and early jazz. Some songs are sung unaccompanied, maybe with added harmony, or with descant and/or bass parts. The Choir also accompanies some songs on instruments, played by our members, ranging from steel-string and twelve-string guitars, to mountain dulcimer, to mandolin, to soprano recorder, to piano and accordion.
Our church's musical instruments
In the main church, we have the stunning Flentrop organ (see below). We also have an excellent grand piano, made by Mason and Hamlin, which our piano technician tells us is "a superb example of the 19th C. piano-maker's art." There is also a modern harpsichord, owned by the Greater New Bedford Choral Society, available by prior arrangement with them.
In the Parish House, we have an excellent Steinway upright piano. It is used for summer worship services and other events held in the Parish House. There is another upright piano upstairs in Tryworks Auditorium.
The Flentrop Organ
The Flentrop organ is a creation of Flentrop Orgelbouw, of Zaandam, Netherlands. The late Dirk Flentrop (d. 2003) was its designer-builder. His devotion to classic Baroque design made his organs legendary among American Guild of Organists members. The organ was a result of careful planning by devoted church members and the late E. Power Biggs and the late Charles Drake. It was dedicated in 1967 in a concert by Donald Willing, then chair of the organ department of the New England Conservatory. It is often used for special AGO concerts, especially when featuring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Flentrop organ was built according to the Baroque design common in Bach’s day. It is a “tracker action” (mechanical) instrument, using low wind pressure. Its pipe case is free standing, shallow, with pipes unenclosed by any chambers. Thus the organ speaks directly into the sanctuary.
Acoustics
The main church, designed in the Gothic Revival style, features a high ceiling and an almost square floor plan. The shape and ornamentation in the room result in excellent acoustics. The room is wonderful for music, capable of bringing out the most subtle classical guitar tone, a thundering organ or piano, or bold jazz statements. Yet the room is also excellent for the spoken word. It is rare to find a room that balances music and the spoken word so well.
Tryworks Auditorium, on the second floor of the Parish House, is an excellent room for music. Smaller than the santuary, it has brighter acoustics overall. It is named after Tryworks Coffee House, one of the longest-running folk music coffee houses in the country. Tryworks Auditorium is also good for spoken word, and is often used by theatre workshops and as rehearsal space for local theatre groups.
The rooms on the main floor of the Parish House feature relatively high ceilings, and make good rehearsal spaces for musical ensembles. Currently, two choral groups use these spaces.