Dear friends,
I am delighted to announce that Dr. Kenneth Miller will serve as the next Director of Music and Organist of St. James’ Church beginning July 1, 2024.
The Music Search Committee, our choirs, staff, and I discovered in Ken one of the most gifted musicians in the Episcopal Church. Currently serving as Associate Professor of Church Music at the University of the South (Sewanee), Ken serves as Organist and Director of Choirs for the School of Theology’s Chapel of the Apostles. Prior to his time at Sewanee, Ken served as Associate Organist-Choirmaster at St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina, and as Instructor of Organ at the University of South Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree in organ and church music from Lenoir-Rhyne University, where his principal teachers were Florence Jowers and Paul Weber, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied with Martin Jean and Thomas Murray.
With Ken’s gifts, we will continue to offer dignified liturgy with excellent music that has the power to reveal the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One renowned church musician had this to say about Ken: “I have worked with incredibly smart people throughout my career and with excellent musicians. Ken is the smartest person I know and the finest musician.” You can listen to him play here, and listen to one of his compositions here. During a recent visit to St. James’, Ken demonstrated his remarkable gifts with each one of our choirs: from the Cherub and Primary Choirs to the Canterbury and Compostela Choirs.
The Music Search Committee, under the leadership of David Andryc, began work in the summer and completed a herculean effort to bring us to this exciting announcement. Please join me in thanking committee members David, Alexandra Bacon, Karmen Kaufmann, Sarah Reid, Maddie Rice, and Bruce Saylor.
Ken will complete his final term at Sewanee this spring and move to the city this summer. With our celebration of Davis’ remarkable ministry on January 7, 2024, we have identified an interim Director of Music who will serve as our principal organist and direct the adult choirs. Our interim will begin on January 16, and I am excited to introduce him in the coming weeks.
Our calling of Ken to serve with us marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the music ministry at St. James’ Church. Pray for Ken as he prepares to join our mission of sharing the love of Jesus Christ with each other, our city, and the world.
Yours in Christ,
Zack Thompson
A note from Kenneth Miller
Dear St. James’ Church,
I am delighted and humbled that you have called me as your next Director of Music and Organist, and I am excited to begin my work with and among you soon! Making music is at the heart of what it is to follow Christ—Jesus sang with his disciples; the early church sang psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; even the morning stars sang together when the world was created—and I am excited to help lead your music by conducting choirs of children and adults, and by encouraging congregational singing from the organ bench.
Throughout the hiring process, not only have the rector, the Music Search Committee, and the choirs of St. James’ been warm and welcoming to me, but they have been enthusiastic about St. James’ mission and its future. God is up to wonderful things at St. James’, and I’m glad I will soon be a part of them. I look forward to getting to know you and making music with all of you for years to come.
Ken
