"A FORETASTE OF THE
HEAVEN ABOVE" - DAVID C. LAM CHRISTIAN HYMN SOCIETY 11th HYMN
SINGING FESTIVAL
Vancouver, BC (June 6, 2007) -
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". As one of the participant comments,
"Singing hymns with so many people together, it surely
gives us a foretaste of the heaven above!"
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 ) and 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 11th 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.DCLCHymnSociety.org
