Welcome from our Music Director - Sarah Deveau
I have the pleasure and privilege of serving as Music Director at First Unitarian. Since I began working here in 2008, I have met countless lovers of music and heard many of them share their talents, their voices and their enthusiasm with the congregation here. I am grateful to be part of a church where people deeply appreciate music and the part it plays in our services. As choir director, I relish the opportunity to work with a dedicated and growing group of singers with a wide range of backgrounds and musical experiences. Some of our singers have never been in a choir before and some are practically pros! But every Wednesday night, we come together to have fun and do some demanding and exciting musical work to achieve something that no one of us could achieve on our own.
If you are new to FUSD or new to our music program, I would like to welcome you and invite you in! As you can hear on any Sunday, we have a thriving music program. We would be happy to include you and give you a chance to share your gifts with our congregation.
Welcome from our Worship Musician - Lia Davis
I am honored and delighted to serve as Worship Musician at First Unitarian. Simply put, I love my job! My prime role is to select and create music for our worship services: music that will inspire, comfort, motivate, and bring together our community; music that I know and love; music that resonates with the sermon topics; and music that pushes both our community and myself to go to new places. Sometimes I re-imagine music to illuminate something new about the music or the theme for the service. Other times, I improvise music that embodies and reflects the present moment, the sermon, or the mood of the community. I feel fortunate to work with other musical staff members, in a community that values music and embraces such a diversity of musical expression.
Since beginning at First Unitarian in September 2007, my understanding of my role continues to deepen. I am here not only to make music, I am also here to collaborate, educate, and nurture the overall musical well-being of our community. The opportunities for collaborating with other musicians from our community excite me, and the possibilities keep growing as I meet more members of FUSD and discover their talents, potential, and great ideas. Duos and trios have evolved into larger ensembles, wonderful combinations of voices and instruments, and new arrangements of familiar pieces. In the fall of 2009, I wondered if it would work to collaborate on a larger scale. My first community music-making project (Silent Night Rhapsody, December 2009), brought 15 members of our community together (ages 12 - 50) to create something unexpected and new. I learned a lot about how to coordinate such an effort! Overall, this piece exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to creating more music like this.
I feel a unique resonance and connection with this community -- a symbiosis -- and look forward to sharing more music and learning with all of you.
