A dream come true...

I'll never forget my first time attending a service at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue. My high school organ teacher and long-time dear friend Stephen Roberts took me shortly after I began started studying with him. It was for Evensong in Eastertide. Words cannot describe hearing the incredible Choir of Men and Boys in that palace of pomp and pageantry. Not to mention the masterful improvisation at the organ by none other than Gerre Hancock. I don't think I had ever experienced anything so beautiful in my life up until that point, and from that day on I had always dreamed of becoming an organist at Saint Thomas.

With that experience, I caught the "bug" - the Anglican choral bug. Off to buy every recording of every Men and Boys Choir I could get my hands on. At the time, John Scott with the St Paul's Cathedral Choir was producing more of these recordings than anyone else. Hardly a day went by that I didn't listen to John's recordings of Stainer's "I saw the Lord" and Howells's St Paul's Service.

Suddenly, beginning in 2006, the dream actually came true, and those recordings had literally come to life. Unreal stuff.

I can't talk too much about this. Yesterday's services were incredibly emotional - so much so that I had to really "switch off" in order to be able to do my job as best I could one last time.

I'm eternally grateful to John, the Choir, Fr. Mead, Kevin, and everyone else I worked with. Thank you for the most amazing musical experience one could ever hope for. In spite of my generally bad luck (ask Leslie - *she's* the Irish one), I am incredibly fortunate.

Below is a photo that my dear friend Jonathan Ryan took during my last Evensong. He was one of a handful there on account of Hurricane Sandy. Thanks for being there, Jonathan.

Farewell Fifth Avenue!