Music & Arts
Welcome to the 2023-2024 Concert Season at Peachtree Road!
It has been a tradition, commitment, and passion to provide decades of outstanding concerts and performances. Our beautiful sanctuary, incredible acoustics, and magnificent instruments make Peachtree Road a destination for both artist and listener. We offer the finest possible musical occasions with artists from the Atlanta community and around the world, who are well known for their world-class talent and artistry.
St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
Sunday, October 8, 2023
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
Signature Concert of the season sponsored by the PRUMC Friends of Music
Join us for an evening of beautiful music by Elgar, Byrd and Hancock, among many of the great composers whose music will be presented on this concert. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered by many to be the leading ensemble in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The choir performs regularly with the period instrument ensemble, Concert Royal, or with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s as part of its own concert series. Its primary raison d’être, however, is to provide music for five choral services each week. Supplementing its choral services and concert series over the past three decades, the choir has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe. Their annual performance of Handel’s Messiah is a beloved tradition.
General Admission: $30 in advance/ $35 day of concert
Students: $18 in advance/ $20 day of concert
Christmas with the Georgia Boy Choir
Friday, December 8 &
Saturday, December 9, 2023
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
David R. White, conductor
Ring in the Holiday Season with the internationally acclaimed Georgia Boy Choir! Come hear all five levels of the Georgia Boy Choir in this Atlanta tradition and PRUMC favorite. Choristers will perform sacred classics, Christmas carols, and well-loved holiday tunes. Don’t forget Atlanta’s largest performance of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with all the audience participating! Accompanied by a full orchestra and The Great Organ of PRUMC, this Christmas tradition is sure to fill you and your family with cheer!
Carols by Candlelight
A Community Carol Sing!
Sunday, December 10, 2023
5:30 pm, Sanctuary
Oliver Brett, conductor
Join us for this community carol sing. We will join together with friends, neighbors, and communities from across the city to sing together our favorite Christmas carols for all the family. We will finish by singing Silent Night bathed in candlelight and the lights of our giant Chrismon tree. Afterward, join us for a reception where we can share our Christmas cheer!
Admission is free.
Childcare is available for ages 4 and younger by reservation only.
The Many Moods of Christmas
Sunday, December 17, 2023
7:30 pm, Sanctuary
PRUMC Chancel Choir, Georgia Boy Choir, soloists, orchestra
Scott Atchison, conductor
The PRUMC Chancel Choir, Georgia Boy Choir, soloists, and orchestra present their Christmas classic. This year’s program includes traditional Christmas hymns, moving new settings of familiar carols, and the world premiere of the full orchestration of Randall Stroope’s Hodie. Tickets are complimentary but necessary for seating. Reserve tickets online or pick up tickets beginning Sunday, November 19, 2023. Reception sponsored by the PRUMC Friends of Music in Grace Hall following the concert.
Tickets are complimentary, but necessary for seating.
Childcare is available for ages 4 and younger by reservation only.
The AGO Atlanta Chapter Presents Jason Roberts
Friday, January 12, 2024
7:30 pm, Sanctuary
Jason Roberts, organist
Improvisation Masterclass for AGO Members
Saturday, January 13, 2024
9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Sanctuary
Join the Atlanta Chapter of the AGO for an evening of repertoire and improvisation by acclaimed organist Jason Roberts. The following morning, Mr. Roberts will share improvisation skills and tips with AGO chapter members in a masterclass. Both events are free and open to the public, with a freewill offering accepted at the concert.
Jason Roberts is Director of Music at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City. He has also served at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York and at St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He is a winner of the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation and has been a finalist at competitions in St Albans and Haarlem. He keeps an active recital schedule and enjoys accompanying silent films. He has served on the faculty at Westminster Choir College, and his compositions have been performed at such various venues as Princeton University Chapel in New Jersey, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Westminster Abbey in London.
Free and open to the public.
The Atlanta Concert Opera Presents Wagner’s Tannhauser
Thursday, February 15 & Saturday, February 17, 2024
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
The knight-poet Tannhäuser has disappeared from life at court and spent a year in the magical underground realm of Venus, the goddess of love, yet he longs to return to the human world and his past love, the Princess Elizabeth. Unable to fully return to life as he knew it before and stave off his lustful desires during a song contest, Tannhäuser is sentenced to a penitential pilgrimage to Rome to seek forgiveness from the Pope himself to atone for his sins. The opera centers on the struggle between sacred and profane love, penitence, the struggle of a misunderstood artist, and redemption through love, a theme running through most of Richard Wagner’s work.
Atlanta Concert Opera was founded in 2019 as an artist-focused, artist-led company hoping to serve singers, instrumentalists, and conductors in the Atlanta area. As an artist-centered institution, Atlanta Concert Opera hopes to enrich the local arts community by producing one mainstage concert opera with orchestra, ensuring the casting amplifies the experience of the singers and allows them to study common repertoire roles in a safe and nurturing environment.
Admission is free.
Donations gladly accepted.
Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem
Sunday, March 3, 2024
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
Scott Atchison, conductor
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of Fauré’s death, the renowned PRUMC Chancel Choir will offer his Requiem. He was one of the most influential of French composers, linking the end of Romanticism with the beginnings of the modern era. His Requiem and Pavane remain among the best-loved classical pieces. Fauré began composing his Requiem in 1887, revised and expanded it over the years, until its final version dating from 1901.
$15 suggested concert donation.
Passion of the Christ
The Musical Stations of the Cross
Sunday, March 17, 2024
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
Scott H. Atchison, gallery organ, Patrick Scott, chancel organ, John Lemley, narration
Schola, antiphons, Peachtree Carillon
Over the past decade, Peachtree Road has created a beautiful Lenten tradition through inspired improvisations and organ works played by two organists on the Church’s two consoles of the Great Organ, reflective settings sung by PRUMC’s Schola, and live readings of connective scripture. The Sanctuary is illuminated by the glow of hundreds of candles representing Christ’s light in the darkness and inspiring moments of reflection and contemplation for the listener.
$15 suggested concert donation
Three Choirs Festival
Thursday, April 4, 2024
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
Georgia State University Singers, Deanna Joseph, conductor
Emory University Concert Choir, Eric Nelson, conductor
UGA Hodgson Singers, Daniel Bara, conductor
Now an annual concert series favorite, we present the premier ensembles of these prestigious University Programs. Enjoy a collaborative, diverse and inspiring musical exchange with these talented singers.
$15 suggested concert donation / $5 for students.
Midday Music in May
Wednesdays in May, 2024
1:00 pm, Sanctuary
Enjoy anniversary themed 30-minute lunchtime organ recitals featuring the best of Atlanta’s organists who will share in the celebration of The Great Organ of Peachtree Road.
May 1
Scott Atchison, Oliver Brett, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church
May 8
Ted Babbitt, Walnut Street Music at Christ Church, Macon, GA
May 15
Justin Maxey, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA
May 22
Sean Vogt, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta, GA
Admission is free.
Kinnara Presents Immortal Bach
Friday, May 3, 2024
7:00 pm, Sanctuary
J.D. Burnett, conductor
Celebrate Kinnara’s Fifteenth Anniversary at Peachtree Road! As they embark on this momentous occasion, they take pride in honoring their rich history through captivating performances that have shaped them as an ensemble.
This special program pays tribute to the timeless works of J.S. Bach, and the lasting impact of his musical inheritance and legacy. Originally planned for March 2020, Kinnara is excited to finally bring this spectacular program to life. Experience the brilliance of Bach’s fabulous cantata, “Jesu, Meine Freude,” along side mesmerizing compositions by Monteverdi, Brahms, Distler, and Caroline Shaw. These masterpieces promise an unforgettable musical journey that transcends time and connects the past with the present.
Atlanta Summer Organ Festival
Sunday, June 16, 2024
7:30 pm, Sanctuary
James O’Donnell, organist
Internationally recognized as a conductor, organist, and teacher, James O’Donnell has performed all over the world. Following a distinguished 23-year tenure as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, Mr. O’Donnell now holds the post of Professor in the Practice of Organ at Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven CT, where he succeeds Thomas Murray as professor to graduate organ majors and other students in sacred music.
In his tenure at Westminster Abbey, Mr. O’Donnell was responsible for all musical aspects of the Abbey’s work, training and conducting the Abbey Choir in its daily choral services, recordings, concerts, and broadcasts and at the great national occasions for which the Abbey is known, including directing the music for the September 2022 State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Atlanta Summer Organ Festival was established in 1995 to help increase classical music performances in the summer and PRUMC joined as a host in 2002. To this day, the festival continues the tradition of offering a series of wonderful venues for both established and talented rising young organists.
A dessert reception will follow the program.
$15 suggested donation.
Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition
June 17, 18, 19, 2024
Opening Recital
James O’Donnell, organ
Sunday, June 16, 2024
7:30 pm, Sanctuary
The Music and Arts Program is excited to announce the second Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition taking place June 17-19, 2024. The competition is a biennial event designed to attract the very best young organists from around the world. The first competition in 2022 received over seventy applicants, twice as many as most other organ competitions here in the U.S. and abroad. Six finalists will once again be invited to Atlanta to compete for prize money totaling $21,000. The competition will be judged by a jury of five of the world’s finest performers: David Briggs (chair), David Coucheron, Isabelle Demers, Lynne Davis, and James O’Donnell.
Founded by the family of the late Elizabeth B. Stephens, who was a great supporter of the arts at PRUMC and throughout the city of Atlanta, the competition has garnered global acclaim. The competition’s final round will take place on June 19, 2024. These performances are free and open to the public.