Over the past two years, The Hymn Society has sponsored two webinar series that have featured voices of many cultures and nations. During the coming year, we are sponsoring a new series entitled “The World Sings, Part III” that will feature more expert voices on congregational singing from around the globe.
Except as noted, all the presentations will be broadcast live on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm ET and will be available as recordings for registrants to view for an extended period. Here is the schedule of programs:
Registration for a single webinar is $30 for members, $40 for non-members, $20 for students. Registration for the full series of six webinars is $150 for members, $200 for non-members, and $75 for students.
Register NowLim, Swee Hong is the Deer Park Associate Professor of Sacred Music and directs the Master of Sacred Music program at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. He is a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the US and Canada. His music is published by both Hope Publishing Company and GIA Publications. He co-authored A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship with Lester Ruth of Duke University (Baker Academics, 2021). He served as the music director for the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Karlsruhe, Germany (2019-2022).
Register NowDr. Kim R. Harris is the Assistant Professor of African American Thought and Practice in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. In addition to teaching courses on Black liberation and Womanist theologies, Harris leads music in a variety of liturgical and academic settings. She is a liturgist, composer and recording artist, presenting lectures on the music of the Black Catholic experience, the spirituals of the Underground Railroad and the freedom song of modern Civil Rights Movement. Harris is a member of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium and the North American Academy of Liturgy. She is an academic member of the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as well as a liturgical consultant for the Archdiocese of New York Office of Black Ministry.
A gifted cantor, leader of song and a passionate cultural advocate, Harris earned a PhD in worship and the arts from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In fulfillment of her degree, she composed Welcome Table: A Mass of Spirituals, one of the complete Mass settings included in the Lead Me Guide Black Catholic hymnal second edition (GIA Publications Inc).
Register NowKinga Povedák studied European Ethnology and American Studies at the University of Szeged, Hungary. Her dissertation explores religious modernization through the phenomenon of popular Christian music among Catholics in Hungary. Dr. Povedák was a post-doctoral researcher at the Study of Religions Department, University College Cork (Ireland), and has been a lecturer at the University of Szeged (Hungary). Currently, she is a senior research fellow at the ELKH-SZTE ’Convivence’ Religious Pluralism Research Group. She is a board member of the Ethnology of Religion Working Group of SIEF (International Society for Ethnology and Folklore), and the convenor for the Choreomundus Program (International MA in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage) sponsored by the European Erasmus Mundus. Her research interests include vernacular religiosity during Socialist times, Christianity and popular music, the musical lifeworlds of Christian Roma (‘Gypsy’) communities, and Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity. Her recent publications include: Gitáros apostolok. A keresztény könnyűzene vallástudományi vizsgálata [Guitarist Apostles: A Religious Studies investigation of Christian Popular Music] (MTA-SZTE, Szeged 2019), and the co-edited volume The Secret Police and the Religious Underground in Communist and Post-Communist Eastern Europe (Routledge, 2021) with James Kapaló.
Register NowAdán Fernández is the University Organist and Adjunct Professor in the School of Music and School of Religion at California Lutheran University. His papers and articles have been published in CrossAccent Journal, Religions Journal, ChorTeach, and Reformed Worship. He is also Adjunct Choral Professor at Glendale College and performs frequently as organist and harpsichordist in Southern California. Dr. Fernández earned his DMA from the University of Southern California in Sacred Music.
Register NowYoussef Iskander is an Egyptian composer, musician, and sound engineer who has spent his life serving the Coptic Orthodox Church in a variety of ways. Currently residing in Switzerland, Youssef most recently served on the worship planning team for the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Register NowMartin Tel is the C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary where he directs the seminary choirs, facilitates the music ministry for daily worship, and lectures in the area of church music. He served as senior editor of Psalms for All Season: A Complete Psalter for Worship (Faith Alive, 2012). He also served on the editorial committees which produced a new hymnal for the Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America denominations, Lift Up Your Hearts (Faith Alive, 2013) and the Spanish-English bilingual hymnal, Santo, Santo, Santo / Holy, Holy, Holy (GIA, 2019).
Eric Wall serves as the Gene Alice Sherman Associate Professor of Sacred Music and Dean of the Chapel at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is the seminary musician, helps oversee the worship life of the campus, and teaches courses in church music and worship. He is also the staff musician at Montreat Conference Center, a national conference center of the PC(USA) in Montreat, NC. He was previously Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Asheville, North Carolina. A volume of his hymn introductions and accompaniments for organ was published in June 2022 by Augsburg Fortress. He lives in Austin with his wife Mary and golden retriever Ernie; their son, Tristan, lives in Charlotte.
Register Now