Our Comings & Goings feature offers a closer look at Choir members, past and present. Matthew Lobe is in the spotlight for our 4th installment.
In mid-summer 2017 Matthew Lobe moved from Pittsburgh to Rochester, New York, where he is working in home interiors and pursuing his passion for design. Matthew joined the Pittsburgh Compline Choir in the fall of 2015, singing tenor throughout his time with the choir. An accomplished organist, Matthew also accompanied the choir from time to time and served as guest organist. “Even though I sang with the Pittsburgh Compline Choir for only two years, it made my three years living in Pittsburgh feel that much more like home,” Matthew wrote recently. “I will miss the beautiful space of Heinz Chapel. I will also miss the service itself and the objectives of the choir – its outreach to others. I love the office of Compline, so rich with psalms and prayers, and its accompanying choral music. Being able to participate, make beautiful music, and pray together with fellow choir members made being a part of the ensemble so meaningful to me. As a member of the PCC, it was my constant, weekly effort to minister or ‘reach out’ to the attendees of Compline. Despite this, I found myself each and every week just as nourished spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, if not even more than the attendees.”
The Lutheran University Center‘s Pittsburgh Compline Choir is very excited to announce that we have a new Choir Director, Dr. Mark A. Boyle. Mark’s rich background and his passion for sacred music makes him very well suited to lead our Compline Choir. He is also the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Seton Hill University in Greensburg,
In Mark’s words regarding the Service of Compline: “Compline entered my life while serving in the United States Navy in Hawaii. I was fortunate to stumble into the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and its Compline Choir, one of the “baby Complines” that came out of St. Mark’s in Seattle. To have the opportunity to return to this beautifully meaningful service with the Pittsburgh Compline Choir is a dream realized.”
The Pittsburgh Compline Choir is an expanded and enlarged version of the Order for Compline as found in the Lutheran Book of Worship and we are looking forward to the further growth of Compline under Dr. Boyle’s Leadership.
Please join us this Sunday evening at Heinz Chapel at 8:00pm as the Compline Choir begins a new year.
Here is an article by Charlie Stewart, published in the Shady Ave Magazine, “Listen to the Quiet“.
Here is an article by Joanne Barron, published in the Sewickley Herald, “Music Plus Series at St. James Church features silence Nov. 6“.
