By Sally Neel
Special to The PREVIEW
St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church (225 S. Pagosa Blvd.) provides a beautiful venue for the monthly music and meditation service, Sunday Night Unplugged. A time for calm and silence, the service is punctuated by meditative music, brief readings and prayers, offering participants the opportunity to quiet the mind.
This Sunday evening at 5 p.m., NightSong Trio will provide music to enhance your meditations. The flute/violin/piano trio has been playing together for nine years, rehearsing together regularly for their own enjoyment and in preparation for occasional performances.
Flutist Jessica Peterson is gifted not only as a flutist, she also hand crafts Native American flutes and creates beautiful artwork in her home shop. Her talents are varied and extensive. She can often be heard performing solo at the hot springs or in concert alongside local musician Paul Roberts. Peterson teaches private flute lessons from her home and is also a wilderness guide and a licensed masseuse.
Heidi Tanner has played the violin since her early years. She served as concert master of the Tulsa Youth Orchestra during her high school years. Though she put the violin aside for a number of years while she helped to raise her children, she brought it out of the closet about 10 years ago, resurrecting her passion for music. Her beautiful tones and sensitive playing now have the advantage of maturity, adding a lovely timbre to the trio of players. She regularly plays as principle violinist in the pit orchestra for Curtains Up Pagosa (CUP) productions and served as the first president of Pagosa Springs Instrumental Music Society and continued in this role for a number of years. She also teaches private violin lessons.
Pianist and organist Sally Neel is a professional musician who has studied and played piano since childhood. She studied organ and voice at Texas Christian University, where she majored in sacred music. She is director of music ministries for St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, where she conducts the adult choir and serves as organist. She was the director of music for CUP for 10 years and teaches CUP scholarship students voice lessons from her home.
Sunday’s music will feature solos from each musician as well as ensemble pieces.
Sunday Night Unplugged is open to the public free of charge. Come and enjoy a quiet evening of beautiful music and quiet meditation. The service lasts about an hour and is a gift that you will take with you in your soul.
