We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Concerts

Thirteen concert, Feb., 11, 2018

The Thirteen was our first concert almost five years ago in Oct. 2013. We brought them back to help begin our sixth year. Many things have changed with them including singers though they still have two singers from that period. Many of their concerts, including this one, are thematic. This concert, “From Tree to Shining Tree”, was based on the environment and how composers have expressed their feelings – wonder, delight as well horror to the destruction of nature through their music.

We had 50 people on a pretty dreary day though the music lightened it up. The rain held up and it was very warm in the 60’s in February. We thank the Heimbachs for a wonderful reception at 6pm including drinks, cheese and crab dip. Also Brad Volland provided two types of lasagna at dinner which was appreciated. Thanks to others such as Roger and Eunice who helped with the dinner and logistics.

Thomas Marshall Organ Concert Oct 10, 2010

175th Anniversary kickoff celebration. Thomas Marshall organist from William and Mary presented four centuries of organ music on the George Stevens 1850 organ. About 40 people attended, including Denise Symonds, former organist.

The Thirteen in Concert, Oct 22, 2013

The Thirteen, twelve singers with conductor Matthew Robertson, brought the Renaissance to life for 100 concert goers on Oct. 22. It was a young group that tackled an ambitious program of two key Renaissance composers – Tallis and Palestrina, both 16th century /composers of sacred music in England and Italy, respectively. We thank Cookie, Catherine, the Pogues, the Carpenters, and the Heimbachs in particular for their help with the concert.

Portland Guitar Duo concert, April 19, 2024

The Duo meets with guitarists in the audience after the show

The Portland Guitar Duo are James Manuele and Foti Lycouridis and have been playing together since 1999. This was their second performance at St. Peter’s, the first being almost exactly 8 years years ago in April, 2016.

We had about 30 for the concert. A reception organized by the ECW was held before in the pavilion. After the show, the two guitarists, provided an opportunity for the guitarists in the audience to meet the Duo, ask questions, and play their guitars.

Romantic guitars were used for the concert, smaller than the current classical guitars. The period had standardized on 6 strings in contrast to the baroque guitar of the 18th century with 5 strings.

The Romantic guitars were used in transcriptions of pianos pieces from Chopin, Liszt, and Schubert as well as dipping back to the 18th century for Domenico Cimarosa. Foti does many of the transcriptions for the duo.

1. Photos

(full size gallery)

2. Video – Introduction and opening number

3. Video – Pan of the Audience

Portland Guitar, April 19 concert

They will be performing music written for two guitars at St. Peter’s, Friday, April 19 at 7pm as part of our annual concert series. (Reception 6:15pm in the Parish House.)

The concert is free but donations gratefully accepted for future concerts, held yearly since 2013. This is our 10th concert.

The Portland Guitar Duo are James Manuele and Foti Lycouridis and have been playing together since 1999.

Foti shared some of the details of the concert – “This time we will do a program of 19th century music on copies of period instruments. It will be mostly transcriptions of piano music of the period along with a few duets and solos written for guitar/guitars. We will also talk about the guitar history of that particular time. As performers and researchers we are very interested in music of other media that we can play on guitar, and piano music of that period has a very rich repertoire to draw from.”

Born in California, James Manuele began playing the guitar at age eleven. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Mansfield University, where he also studied voice and viola. Later, he earned his Masters of Music in Guitar Performance at Portland State University and has taught in colleges -Clark College in Vancouver and at Concordia in Portland.

Foti Lycouridis was born in Egypt of Greek parents. In 1981, he started his music education at the University of Portland. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance and a Master’s in Music Theory. He also can perform on a 10-string guitar and Baroque lute.

A. Here is a 3 minute summary of the Duo:
B. Live
1. Part 1 of a set for the Portland Community Media.
2. Part 2 of a set for the Portland Community Media.
3. “Miller’s Dance” by Manuel de Falla
4. At Oregon State University. “Spanish Dance no. 2 ‘Oriental'” by E. Granados”
5. “The Caprice” by Isaac Albeniz

Portland Guitar Duo – Web site

Help us advertise the Portland Guitar Duo!

Advertise to your neighbors, your work associates, the people you buy from. Who doesn’t like Guitar music? Just spread the word!

Portland’s Guitar music is soothing and sounds great in the acoustics of our small church, a natural concert hall.

We have two handouts:

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Concerts at St. Peter’s

The recent concert series began in 2013 as a way of inviting people into St Peter’s and to the town of Port Royal and to provide additional inreach for our own congregation. Our church with its excellent acoustics are attractive to both performers and audience. We have enjoyed vocal ensembles, guitarists and other string instruments. Past concerts have included:

9. Beausoir, Oct. 14, 2022

8. The Philharmonia, Nov. 2, 2019

7. 13 concert Feb. 11, 2018

6. Magical Strings in Concert April 22, 2017

5. Lyra – Sept 23, 2016

4. Portland Guitar Duo -April 15, 2016

3. Flamenco Concert – Sept 15, 2015

2. Lyra Sept 16, 2014

1. The Thirteen Oct 22, 2013

Earlier Concerts Most of the concerts in this time period were during Nell Clarke’s tenure as organist (1982-2000).

2023 Highlights at St. Peter’s

This is a topical summary. We have another page that is a chronological listing of 2023 events with table of contents with links to the events.

The highlights can be grouped as follows:

A. New ministry
God’s Garden
Chancellors Village
Advent Worskhop

B. New expressions in ministry
Stewardship tree
Lent -Stations of the Cross in the graveyard and more services

C. Expanded and revised ministries
Mission trip to Jamaica
Anniversary Village Harvest Food Ministry
Sacred Ground revised
ECM (Episcopal Church Men) end of year expanded donations and use of an art auction.
Community – Prayer service, Outside Christmas pageant, Work with community organizations
Key parishioner volunteering
ECW (Episcopal Church Women) projects

D. Music provided new delights
Easter, the summer and Christmas
Blue grass concert

E. Losses connected with two historic trees and two heating systems.

1. New ministry – God’s Garden

A new ministry debuted Sept 17, 2023. God’s Garden for 5 to 9 year olds began with 4 children and two experienced teachers, Elizabeth Heimbach, the originator of the class and Jan Saylor.

One of the first activities was to “God’s Garden” which explored what it meant to be a saint, today (Oct. 1, 2023) for St. Francis Day on Oct. 4. As an example they told the story of St. Francis taming the Wolf of Gubbio. Then, they made Pet blessings with treats to give out in church to make pets happy on St. Francis Day, Oct. 4.

2. Expanded ministry in Jamaica

Even before the mission began, we hosted Annette Steele, principal of Victoria Primary School who enjoyed a full day at St. Peter’s on Sun, Aug. 13. She addressed the church at announcements about our joint mission to help the students in her elementary school get ready for school in Sept, both in 2021 and 2023. She explained how much it meant to the students and her community.

After the service, she enjoyed St. Peter’s hospitality at a luncheon and met our parishioners and guests.

The group of 3 on the mission team distributed our donations in Jamaica on Aug. 26

We not only brought the usual school supplies but added 6 tablets. Separately, 7 used computers were donated to a school that had never had a computer.  

There were different ways of distributing the items.  There were contests for tablets and food baskets won by answering questions. Certificates given out based on merit overall and in areas like math. A number of students won $1,000 Jamaican dollars for math competency. Teachers were not forgotten – 2 footballs were given out to the coach!

3. Village Harvest ended its 9th year and began its 10th year in August, 2023 and ended the year serving the most people since 2019.

For the year, we recovered from a slow 1st quarter, 2023 and ended the year serving 1,063 people compared to 1,051 in 2022. It was the best yearly total since 2019.

Unfortunately, the same trend overall wasn’t present with food. Food increased from 2021 to 2022 (14,303 to 15,302 pounds) but dipped to 13,859 pounds in 2023. The first quarter was the problem. We had 2,913 pounds in that quarter compared over 4,000 for 2022 and 2021.

As a result, pounds provided per individual dropped from 14.56 in 2022 to 13.04. In 2021, it was in the same range at 14.32. Overall, pounds per individual are substantially higher since 2019 than in earlier periods.

The 2023 collection on Giving Tuesday, Nov 28 of $1,205 was the highest Giving Tuesday figure since 2019 and provides over 5 months of support for purchasing food for 2024

4. Sacred Ground revised their scholarship program

Representatives from Sacred Ground met with Jessica Thompson, Executive Director of the Germanna Educational Foundation, for lunch at Castiglias in Fredericksburg on Oct. 10, 2023.  The goal was to determine how we could move forward with a new focus on our scholarships for students.

Sacred Ground voted unanimously by email in early December to fund the recommendation forwarded by Jessica Thompson at Germanna for scholarships for students entering the trades. Each student is “in financial need and from underserved populations.” The $2,700 would be split equally to pay for their training.

Each student owes approximately $1,500 for the classes to complete the training. We will pay for the additional expense for each student through additional scholarship funds

They also toured Patawomeck Village in November. The goal of the visit was to understand their history and culture as well as our role

Earlier, the Sacred Ground group had the pleasure of meeting with Alanna Gray (beside Catherine), and her mother and grandmother (opposite Alanna) at Cuppa Cheer in February

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