April 30 – May 1, 2022
Festival Concert: “Remembrance, Reflection, and Rebirth”*
April 30, 2022
This inspiring program was a journey through music, narration, and dramatic slide projections as it made emotional commentary on the pivotal historical events of the First Church in Boston, and included a pre-concert reception.
The program included:
- John Rutter’s Gloria featuring choir, brass octet, tympani and organ
- Adolphus Hailstork’s Seven Songs of the Rubaiyat for unaccompanied choir
- Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise for cello and piano
- And works by First Church composers Larry Thomas Bell and Leo Collins
*This concert is presented in part with grants from the Music Pension Trust Fund and the Collins Memorial Fund.
Tours of the Church
Saturday, April 30 & Sunday, May 1, 2022
Hour long guided tours explored the compelling spaces Paul Rudolph designed for First Church—from the outside amphitheater to the highest balcony of the sanctuary. Guides highlighted how the architect’s design responded to the congregation’s goals. They shared quotations from archived letters in which Rudolph explains his thinking on the use of the ruins, the importance of light, and the value of rooms without square corners!
Worship Service
Sunday, May 1, 2022
The sermon ‘Risen from the Ashes’ by Rev. Edmund Robinson told the story of how the congregation decided to rebuild the church and why they chose a controversial modern design. Special musical selections were included for the occasion.
Architectural Panel: Paul Rudolph and First Church in Boston
Sunday, May 1, 2022
There was a lively, well-attended panel discussion about the work of Paul Rudolph and his groundbreaking building for First Church. The program included an interview with Robert Campbell, the architectural critic for the Boston Globe, by artist and author Justin Beal.
Panelists included:
- Kelvin Dickinson, President of the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture
- Alice Friedman, Grace Slack McNeil Professor of American Art at Wellesley College
- Eric Höweler, Co-founder of Höweler + Yoon Architecture LLP and Associate Professor in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
- Timothy Rohan, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Architectural History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and author of The Architecture of Paul Rudolph (Yale University Press, 2014).
The Archival Task Force ran a campaign to attain funding for the cataloging of First Church in Boston records, dating back to 1630, which are held at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The trustees and several congregants contributed to the effort (thank you!) and it was completed in Fall 2021.