Music at the Red Door enriches our neighborhood with a broad range of wonderful musical programs and empowers children through musical education and performance. Through a year-round season of professional-quality musical presentations in the acoustically and visually stunning setting of St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Music at the Red Door employs the power of music and the spirit of fellowship to enrich the musical experiences of Greater Hartford. The goal of Red Door is to build bridges between our parish and the community. The name of the series makes reference to our front doors, with their traditional color of welcome and sanctuary.
A bit of history…
Our expanded series of musical offerings to the Parish and wider community began in September 2011. The name of the series makes reference to our front doors, with their traditional color of welcome and sanctuary. The series has helped to establish St. John\’s as a destination for those seeking musical refreshment and excellence, drawing on the existing strengths of our choirs and guest artists, architecture, organ, location, and Anglican heritage.
Music at the Red Door consists of an eclectic set of concerts of varying styles that include choral and organ music (often utilizing the musicians of St. John’s, including the annual Festival of Lessons & Carols and Choral Music for the Soul), chamber music, and jazz, six half-hour organ concerts (Pipes Alive!) featuring local artists, and Choral Evensongs. See our events page for full details. The organization has a mission to serve its community, which includes the Asylum Hill neighborhood and the West End of Hartford, and thus we host a summer children’s music camp for second, third, and fourth grade inner-city children, under the able leadership of Calida Jones, founder of the El Sistema program BRAVO Waterbury. We also hold an annual outdoor block party in September for the neighboring communities, featuring a variety of food, steel bands, and local bands.
Music at the Red Door has been presenting concerts at St. John’s for eight years: classical, jazz, and popular/world music. The concerts are open to the community (with a free-will donation requested) but have primarily been funded by members of the congregation. Recently the church decided to create a separate 501(c)3 non?profit organization, with its own board of directors, so that the Red Door music series could continue to expand its offerings to the community, and raise funds apart from donations made to the church. Music at the Red Door, Inc., was incorporated in January, 2018, and received its IRS determination letter in April, 2018.
In addition to our Red Door concerts, we have expanded our reach into the community through strategic partnerships: The New World Trio is currently our Ensemble in Residence, and the Hartt@Home student recital series presents an annual concert. We also reach out to children – through the summer day camp and a year-long program of inter-generational choral singing and concerts (Evensong, Lessons and Carols, and the annual Choral Music for the Soul concert).
We hope to see you at the Red Door often! Be sure to check out our events, and click learn how you can help as well.