Worship and Music

Music at the Cathedral

Established in 1822, Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest house of worship in Louisville. The Cathedral has and continues to uphold the highest standard for music and worship. While the great traditions of the church are at risk of being lost in our culture, the Cathedral desires to maintain our heritage of Anglican music and historical liturgies while always looking forward and being relevant in our world today. With this in mind, our worship reflects the contemplative nature of evening worship through Evensong to the joyous celebrations of the nativity and resurrection. The Cathedral Choir is the resident choral ensemble at the Cathedral, singing all principal services. The choir also sings services for the Diocese of Kentucky, regular Evensongs, and the annual Advent Lessons and Carols. A mixed choir of adults, the choir sings music from all eras, with a consistent dedication to American composers, new and old. The Cathedral Choir has been featured on both local and national public radio programs numerous times. Recordings available by the Cathedral Choir include An American Evening: Music by American Composers and Lux Aeterna: music spanning a thousand years with the common theme of light.

Lessons and Carols, December 12, 2017 (Credit: Don Vish)

Parish Notes

Sermon Archive

Video Archives

Our Instruments

Interview with Darron Wissinger Part One
Interview with Darron Wissinger Part Two

The Cathedral is pleased to announce the arrival of a new pipe organ. It arrived on Saturday, October 17, with a team of dutiful volunteers assisting in the unloading. It was used for the first time on All Saints’ Sunday, November 1, 2015. The dedicatory concert was Sunday, May 15, 2016. This organ is a gift from Jack and Patti Dunn of Jackson, New Hampshire, who have graciously offered the organ to the Cathedral as a gift, knowing it will be well used and fully appreciated.

Built by Darron Wissinger in 2005 for the Dunn’s residence, the organ is 14-stops, twice the size of our current chancel organ, with a larger and more diverse palette of color. This will greatly enhance our congregational singing, choral accompaniment, and solo organ repertoire.

We give thanks for the generosity of the Dunn’s, pictured below, and a private donor who covered the expenses of the move and installation.

Stops

Great

  • 8′ Principal
  • 8′ Chimney Flute
  • 4′ Octave
  • 2 2/3′ Nazard
  • 2′ Fifteenth
  • 1 3/5′ Tierce

Swell

  • 8′ Stopped Diapason
  • 8′ Gamba
  • 8′ Viol Celeste
  • 4′ Harmonic Flute
  • 2′ Piccolo
  • 8′ Oboe

Pedal

  • 16′ Sub Bass
  • 8′ Bourdon

Couplers: Great/Pedal, Swell/Pedal, Swell/Great – Tremulant controlled by hitch-down pedal.

Mechanical Key & Stop Action with two 56 note keyboards and a 30 note pedalboard with ebony capped sharp keys.

Manuals: Bone covered naturals with solid ebony sharps. Mechanically operated Swell Shutters.

Case Work: Solid White Oak – Natural Finish​

With a generous gift of thanksgiving from Christy Brown and her family, the Cathedral was able acquire a new harpsichord to honor the life of former parishioner Owsley Brown, II.

Built in 1977 by David Sutherland of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the instrument has been owned privately since its commission.

The instrument was used in its first public performance on Christmas Eve 2011 and continues to be an asset to the program.

Current Rota

Current Rota