In my email last week announcing Matthew Glandorf’s departure in mid-summer, I also noted that I would soon update you on our plans for this period of transition in our music ministry. I shared that Jack Warren Burnam, a wonderful church musician of over fifty years’ experience has agreed to serve as our Interim Organist and Choirmaster after Matt Glandorf’s departure and at least through the remainder of this calendar year. I’d like to introduce you to Jack, and I hope that you will have an opportunity to meet him on a Sunday in the near future, before he is officially serving here. Below is a brief biographical note and picture that Jack has sent me.
Jack Warren Burnam has pursued an active career in music for more than fifty years, as a choir trainer, conductor, organist, accompanist, and composer. He recently retired as Parish Musician of Immanuel on the Green in New Castle, Delaware, where he served for twelve years. Prior to that, Jack was Choirmaster and Organist of Immanuel Church, Highlands for thirty-five years. He served for eighteen years as Music Director of Congregation Beth Emeth; for twenty years as Director of Middle and Upper School Choral Music at Tower Hill School; and as founding Artistic Director of the chamber choir CoroAllegro for twenty-seven years. Jack accompanied the Delaware Senior All State Chorus for five years, and from 2013 to 2017 accompanied the University of Delaware Chorale under the direction of Paul Head.
Jack is a gifted composer of choral and liturgical music for his own choirs and congregations, as well as of a number of commissioned works. His anthems have taken first place awards in two national competitions: sponsored by the Association of Anglican Musicians (2001) and the Sewanee Church Music Conference Fyfe Award (2020). The Hymnal 1982 includes five of Jack’s hymntune harmonizations, and several items of service music appear in the supplemental hymnal Wonder, Love, and Praise.
Jack holds degrees in sacred music from Houghton College (NY) and Catholic University of America, as well as Associate and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists. He has served as Dean and Subdean of the Delaware Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and he is an active member and Past President of the Association of Anglican Musicians. He lives in Delaware with his wife, Jeannette.
It will be a great gift and blessing to welcome Jack to Good Shepherd in a few months’ time. Due to previous engagements before he agreed to serve in an interim capacity here, Jack’s first Sunday with us will be on September 10. But he will begin work here before then, in addition to playing a Sunday in August. Please welcome Jack and his wife Jeannette to Good Shepherd when you have a chance to meet them!
I would also like to give you an update on a proposed timeline for the search process for a new Director of Music. Last Sunday, I met with our advisory committee (Sarah Austen, John Burrows, Ellen Charry, Anne Hallmark, Mitos Hart, and Don McCown) to review the proposed position description. Once details of compensation and benefits are approved by the vestry at its May 25th meeting, the position will be advertised on our parish website and social media and through the Association of Anglican Musicians and the American Guild of Organists. Applications will be accepted through July 31. The advisory committee and I will promptly being reviewing applications and winnow the pool down to a list of semi-finalists, whom we will interview over Zoom. We hope to bring three finalists to audition and interview in person sometime in the early fall. If all goes as planned, we would like to issue a call before Christmas, with a new Director of Music beginning work sometime in the early new year.
But above all, we want this to be a prayerful and thoughtful process. The advantage of having an Interim Organist and Choirmaster is that we don’t need to rush this process, even though we have no intention of dragging it out. We are listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice in this to discern whom God is calling to serve here as our next Director of Music. We might need to adjust and extend our timeline. We shall see, but in all things, we will endeavor to be faithful in this work.
Please pray for the advisory committee as this process unfolds, for Jack as he prepares to join us, and for Matt, who is preparing for an exciting new phase in his career. We are collecting a purse as a small token of thanks for Matt Glandorf’s many contributions to Good Shepherd. To contribute, please make checks payable to “Church of the Good Shepherd,” with “purse for Matt Glandorf” in the memo line, and leave in the collection plate or mail to the church office by Sunday, June 25. Thank you! Please recall that we will celebrate Matt’s time with us after Sung Mass on Sunday, July 2. Matt’s last Sunday will be on July 9, and until Jack Burnam joins us, we will have supply organists for Sunday Masses. Should you have any questions about the music search process, please reach out to me.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle