On June 2, 2007 at the 11th hymn singing festival, David C. Lam Christian Hymn Society (DCLCHS) celebrated the 300th anniversary of Charles Wesley's birth in Broadway Church of Vancouver. The theme of this sing-along is "REJOICE, THE LORD IS KING!" titled after one of Wesley's hymn.
There were over 1,600 participants joining the DCLCHS SINGERS, SINFONIA MOSAIC, organist ZION WU and conductor HERBERT TSANG to share the power of congregational singing. GERTRUDE WONG, one of the patrons and long time supporter of the society, also led the congregation in singing two Wesley’s hymns, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" and "Hail the day that sees Him rise".
One special segment of this sing-along is on the presentation about the Church Calendar. Rev. SILAS NG of the Richmond Emmanuel Church (Anglican) came and bought with him some colorful robes and several banners from his church. The audience has been reminded that the Christian church has a few hundred years of tradition using color to help people to feel the atmosphere of a special liturgical season. The visual aspect of these banners and robes served as a reminder. The liturgical banner was lowered as the choir led the congregation sing different hymns for that season.
Also during this festival, the prizes of the "International Hymn Tune Composing Competition" were awarded to the following composers:
1st prize – "Come, let us rise with Christ our Head" by ADAM SCHWAMB (Canaan, New Hampshire, USA)
2nd prize – "Rejoice, the Lord is King" by REUBEN CHEUNG (Burnaby, BC, Canada)
3rd prize – "A Charge to Keep I have" by JENNY LEE (Richmond, BC, Canada)
This international competition is a resounding success. There were total 41 compositions submitted by composers from around the world. Each composition was evaluated anonymously and independently by each member of the jury, which included DR. CARL P. DAW Jr. (USA) - Executive Director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada; HERBERT TSANG (Canada) - Music Director of David C. Lam Christian Hymn Society and DAVID P. L. YEUNG (Hong Kong) - Director-in-Chief of the World Association for Chinese Church Music. The congregation also joined the DCLCHS singers in the world premiers of these hymns. Active in promoting congregational singing and hymns, DCLCHS had commissioned and premiered many new hymns arrangements in their past hymn festivals.
DCLCHS also launched it’s 10th CD "ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS' NAME" during this hymn festival. Just like all other CDs, this was a live recording of the past hymn festivals.
DCLCHS has planned the next sing-along to be held on Saturday November 3, 2007 at Vancouver’s Broadway Church. Hope you will be able to join in this event. For more information, please visit DCLCHS website: http://www.DCLCHymnSoceity.org
[Source: David C. Lam Christian Hymn Society (DCLCHS)]
