The new academic year festivities included the second annual Opening Weekend Hymn Festival, which was held in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus Aug.26 and featured an ensemble choir and guest artist Kantor Kevin Hildebrand of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

The festival marked the inaugural concert of the Concordia Seminary Concert Series. To watch an archive video of the festival, visit here.

The concert series is the first of its kind for the Seminary. Two additional concerts are scheduled for 2019. The internationally acclaimed Valparaiso University Chorale, the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, the Valparaiso University Bach Orchestra and Choir, and the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir will present J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 3.

One of the country’s oldest Lutheran collegiate choirs, the University A Cappella Choir from Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, will present I AM Forever WHO I AM: The 80th Anniversary Tour at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 31, in celebration of the choir’s 80th anniversary.

“We are so pleased to be able to offer these concert events as a gift to the St. Louis community,” said Dr. James Marriott, the Kreft Chair for Music Arts. “Music gives us an opportunity to celebrate and proclaim our faith in profound and enriching ways, and these concerts are designed toward that very end. Whether through a festival of hymns, a prolific performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion or the voices of one of our premier Concordia University choirs, this particular 2018-19 series promises to be truly outstanding.”

All performances are held in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105. A freewill offering will be taken. All concerts are free and open to the public. Learn more at www.csl.edu/concertseries.