Music

SANCTUARY CHOIR

Known as one of the premier music ensembles in Twin Cities churches, the Sanctuary Choir leads in worship nine months of the year. Its worship repertoire has many ranges, with the main goal being that individuals experience God’s presence. The choir gives several concerts each year, singing major works of the choral/orchestral literature, both old and new. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings from 7:30–9:30pm. Membership is open to all.

SUMMER CHOIR

During the summer months, our worship music leadership mode is more informal. Join the choral fun on a week-to-week basis. Rehearsals are Sunday mornings before the 10am worship service.

HENNEPIN CHIME

Hennepin Chime plays handbells monthly in worship. The Chime also performs at concerts, festivals, on Christmas Eve and other special days. Membership is by audition as openings occur.

The Copper Street Brass Quintet has been with us since the fall of 2008, making Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church their home base for rehearsals, office space, worship, and concerts. The quintet plays in schools, churches, and concert halls in the Twin Cities and beyond. They play in worship services–giving preludes and postludes, leading hymns, and accompanying anthems. 

The Copper Street Brass is the premier brass chamber ensemble in Minnesota and one of only a handful of self-sustaining brass groups in the country. They were founded in 2008 as a professionally trained classical chamber music ensemble with two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba. They present exclusively their own music–which is an original blend of musical styles from Mozart to Madonna–in over 35 concerts and 100 outreach services each season. The group sound has been described by reviewers as “flawless”, “polished”, and “somewhere between magnificent and exquisite.” Their artistic excellence was widely recognized in 2013 when they were chosen as a finalist for the prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowship.

Each of their individual artists is a master of his or her craft. Their 5 core musicians–Allison Hall, Josh Cameron, Tim Bradley, Alex Wolff, and Nick Adragna–have a combined 9 professional music and education degrees and thousands of performances under their belts. Their artists have performed with world-renowned classical ensembles like the Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO, Minnesota Opera, and Malaysian Philharmonic and also have the versatility to perform with jazz/blues groups such as Davina and the Vagabonds and Nooky Jones. Their musicians have recorded individually for Prince, Grammy-winner Big Walter Smith, and many other groups.

Learn more on their website.

Bells of the Lakes is a community handbell ensemble that began as an outreach of Hennepin Avenue UMC’s music ministry. Made up of highly experienced handbell musicians, they play concerts locally and across the region. Additionally, they sponsor educational events for other ringers and directors. 

The first public concert for Bells of the Lakes as a ringing ensemble was at Handbell Exploration at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington, MN in 1996. They performed at the International Symposium of English Handbell Ringers in Birmingham, England in 2000 and were a featured concert ensemble at Pinnacle, a symposium of community handbell ensembles in Orlando, Florida in 2002. In the summer of 2006, they performed the closing concert at the AGEHR National Directors’ Seminar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Over the years weekend tours have taken the ensemble to the north, south and western edges of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North and South Dakota, Iowa and Indiana. They performed with the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus for their annual Christmas event in 2003 and 2010. Bells of the Lakes continues to bring the art of handbell ringing into the surrounding community with an active concert schedule.

The first recording for the group was for Augsburg Fortress publisher’s demonstration CD of new releases in 1998. Since that time, there have been additional publisher demo recordings and the release of “Bells of the Lakes” which was recorded in the McKnight Auditorium of the Minnesota History Center in 2000, and “Ring the Bells of Christmas” which was recorded at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in 2002. “Bells of the Lakes Celebrates 10 Years” was released in 2006 to mark the ensemble’s tenth anniversary. And “Hymns” was released in 2011 to celebrate the history of handbells in worship and the first Handbell Musicians of America Director’s Seminar held in Minneapolis, MN.

Learn more on their website.

The Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church Sanctuary Organ (Robert Sipe, 1979) is a principal instrument for Sanctuary worship services and concert life of this prominent downtown Minneapolis congregation and remains one of the city’s finest instruments. The instrument is distinctive in a variety of ways. Read more about this very special Robert Sipe Organ.

Patrick Henning
Principal Organist

Krista Riedel
Youth Handbell Director

Darin Riedel
Children's Choir Director