Music Director's Annual Report

This past year was a very active year at Bethany United Church of Christ.  Most recently, we had a wonderful Easter service where my long time good friend Keven Keys shared his beautiful operatic voice with the congregation.  He was accompanied by a fine string quartet comprised of members of four-time Grammy award winning group Eighth Blackbird along with Adam Davidowitz who teaches violin at the church.  Listening to the string quartet, I was reminded of all the places Yvonne Lam, the violinist and Nick Photinos, the cellist have played (as in Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center to name a few) and I was so moved to hear such first rate music making take place at our church.

 Keven Keys and I have been friends for many years, and I have always been in awe of his magnificent voice.  He enjoyed singing in our beautiful church and I loved hearing his voice fill the space.  

It has been a very rewarding experience to share music with Bethany every Sunday.  All of my friends who regularly play for us enjoy the experience as well.  It means so much to me to have congregation members come up to us and thank us for sharing our gifts.  But what people may not realize is that it is such a gift for us to perform at Bethany.  Playing music at a high level can be quite stressful, and it is so nice to be reminded that the reason we play music is to share and to touch people.  I have been saved many times by the experience of sharing music at Bethany on Sundays and I thank you all for the opportunity.  I hope we can continue to make music together and be an integral part of this community.

Yasuko Oura, Music Director