Journey creates ‘opportunity of lifetime’

By Andy Morgan

Jake Jarrell is that guy who always has a quip, a funny story or a spot-on observation. He’s also got a good singing voice, which is why he found himself last August at the Lichfield Cathedral in England. Jarrell was there with his fellow choristers from the St. John’s Episcopal Church in east Dallas.  

“After the service, we’re kind of waiting in one of the wings and this guy, the church verger, comes out and I go, ‘Howdy,’” Jarrell said. “Well, he looks at me and says, ‘How ‘bout them Cowboys?’ 

“I mean, I just keeled over,” he recalled. “Wow. People are nice over there, you know.”

The St. John’s singing group, along with four members of the McKinney St. Peter’s Episcopal group, traveled in early August to sing in three historic British cathedrals.

St. John’s choir performs each Sunday at the church’s 11 a.m. service. During the year, the group puts on a few concerts tied to various church holidays. The choir is made up of about two dozen volunteers who participate for fun and fellowship. But they know that practices and performances are all business. Organist and Choirmaster Benjamin Kolodziej takes the music seriously.

Kolodziej, pronounced Ko-loge-ee, earned a bachelor’s degree from SMU in organ performance and a graduate degree in sacred music. A theater organ, a classical pipe organ and four harpsichords are scattered around his Dallas home.

Kolodziej said he selects each week’s selections to “reflect the theme of the day, the liturgy.”

“Our goal is to get the congregation to sing,” he said. “To give them their own voice. So I try to choose music that encompasses a variety of classical styles. But it’s not all music from dead composers. We sing plenty of composers who are still alive.”

The group practices for around 90 minutes every Wednesday night.

“I look forward to Wednesdays. I look forward to Sundays,” said choir member Marjorie Kirk. “Benjamin works so hard to get us ready for a performance. He’ll see this image in his head of what he wants. It’s all going to come together in Benjamin’s magical dream.”

Margery Hunter has been a choir member for nearly 30 years. “When we practice, there’s no screwing around,” Hunter said. “Benjamin knows what he’s doing.

“The other thing is we have happy hour after choir,” she laughed. “Some of us bring something to drink, some bring cookies, and we just sit around and schmooze.”

In England, the choir performed at three locations: Southwark Cathedral in London, Wells Cathedral in Somerset and Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire. The cathedrals are all Anglican. The Episcopal Church has its roots in the Church of England and is also Anglican.

At each location, the St. John’s choir performed at least twice, usually singing for a Eucharist and an Evensong. At Wells, Kolodziej also performed an organ concert.

When the choir first traveled to England in 2019, Kirk vowed not to miss it. “When our choirmaster announced that first trip, I went up to him and said, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get there yet, but put me on the list,’” Kirk said. “It was an opportunity of a lifetime and I didn’t want to miss out.”

To prepare for the England trip, the choir began meeting six months earlier on alternate Sunday afternoons.

“To be in this choir, you’ve got to put some time in,” Jarrell said. “This choir is not something where you just show up on Sunday and start singing.”

But all the practice has been worth it. Hunter recalled a moment on the trip at the Wells Cathedral’s chapter house, where the floor and walls are solid stone. “Four of the choir members got in there and they started to sing ‘The Lord Bless You and Keep You,’” Hunter said. “Their voices echoed through that stone chamber. I cannot even tell you how ethereal that was.”

Katie Jarrett, who is the assistant organist at St. John’s, said, “the performances felt like a sacred and elevated experience being able to sing in these huge ancient cathedrals.”

“There’s just something other worldly about connecting in time with these things that were created centuries before you were born,” Jarrett said. “The actual performance of the music felt like a kind of high artistic experience.” 

Kolodziej said the England trips are fun because you get to participate in the life of the cathedral for a few days. In Lichfield, the church provided the Dallas group with a small choir house where they could practice.

“The people at the cathedrals are very hospitable to us and that’s a good experience,” he said.

Jarrell said they also spent some time sightseeing, stopping to tour the Winchester and Salisbury Cathedrals and an area called New Forest, southwest of London. 

“So, we went to New Forest, a very wooded area,” Jarrell recalled. “And I think it was William the Conqueror who said that it was the most beautiful place on Earth. But of course, he never came to Texas.”

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