New director of Washington Festival Chorale leads group through “An American Christmas”
Courtesy of Park Burroughs
By Brad Hundt
Staff writer
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
It’s no exaggeration to say that Mitchell Stecker’s life has been steeped in music.
When he was a boy, he was in a children’s choir whose ranks included his future wife. He played trumpet in high school, has a master’s degree in musicology from the University of Florida, and has a bust of Bach in his office at Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church, where he is the music director.
“Some of my earliest memories revolve around church music,” Stecker said. “I also remember being enamored with the organ.”
Stecker’s musical life has become even more full in recent months as he has directed the Washington Festival Chorale. He stepped into the role following the death of his father-in-law, Matthew Boice, who died unexpectedly in August 2022, and had been directing the community choir. When he was asked to take the reins, Stecker admitted he had to think it over because of a life that was already “pretty busy,” but in the end decided to accept it.
“I’ve been looking for ways to carry on Matt’s legacy in any way I can,” Stecker explained.
He and the choir will be making two appearances in Washington County this weekend as they present the concerts, “An American Christmas.” The first will be at Faith United Presbyterian Church at 900 E. Beau St. in South Strabane on Saturday at 7 p.m., and at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church at 105 Gateshead Dr. in McMurray on Sunday at 3 p.m.
When Stecker was choosing the sacred and secular selections for “An American Christmas,” he decided to make it “as expansive as possible.” Traditional favorites and pop hits will be part of the program, along with “A Huron Carol,” written in the 1600s and believed to be the first Christmas carol written in North America. It will be sung in the Huron language.
The chorale will also present a selection sung in shape-note style, an area of musicology that Stecker studied extensively and the topic of his master’s thesis. Shape-note singing is an old form of American music that found a home in the South and used different shapes to denote the pitch of a given note. Shape-note singing can sound unusual to our ears, Stecker admitted, saying it is “a little more alien-sounding” and “a very different style.”
That being said, however, “I think it’s important to expose audiences to this music. It’s not something that we hear frequently.”
As the Washington Festival Chorale’s leader, Stecker hopes to have collaborative relationships with other arts organizations and expand the group’s offerings, which could include a community choir for children.
“We are hopefully an organization on the move,” Stecker said. “Music is such an incredible way to bring people together.”
Additional information on the concerts is available at www.wfchorale.org.