Music has long been a core value of St. John's. This legacy is due to the excellent leadership of organists and directors of music in our past and because the congregation consistently demonstrates a desire for fine music.

Concerts featuring the new Lively-Fulcher Pipe Organ will be held on the First Wednesday from October through June.  More information will be available soon on the schedule for October 6, November 3, December 1, January 5, February 2, March 2, April 6, May 4, and June 1. The concerts begin at 12:10 p.m., are free of charge, and last about 35 minutes. 

• The St. John's Choir comprises twelve professional singers who provide music for the worship of the parish and sing at the 11:00 AM Sunday service during the academic year (September through May.) The St. John's Choir also presents several Festival Choral Eucharists with Orchestra at the 11:00 AM service.
• The Parish Choir provides an opportunity for members of the parish and community to contribute their talents to the worship of St. John's. Generally the Parish Choir provides music leadership at the 9:00 AM Sunday service during the academic year.
• The Summer Choir comprises people from the parish and community who enjoy singing but who cannot make a regular commitment to the Parish Choir, augmented by eight professionals from the St. John's Choir. Rehearsal for the 10:30 a.m. summer service is from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in the Church. 
• Contact Benjamin Hutto, Director of Music, or in the Parish Office at 202-347-8766 for more information about the choirs.

Click here for more information on the choirs.

Music Festivals are scheduled several times per academic year and are presented within the context of the service of Holy Eucharist at 11:00 AM on Sundays. The festival dates for the upcoming season include Hispanic Music Festival on October 4 at 11:00 a.m.; Evensong and Organ Dedication on November 1 at 5:00 p.m.; December 24 (Christmas Eve) at 7:30 p.m.; and Lessons and Carols rescheduled for January 3 at 11:00 a.m. Details are available on the the Calendar.

After three years' extensive research and discussion, the Organ Committee determined that Gress-Miles pipe organ used since 1969 was in need of extensive repairs and refurbishment, and that, rather than invest the time and money in such a project, the parish would be better served by purchasing a new instrument.

The Committee devoted several years to studying organ building, listening to instruments around the country, and discovering which builders might be suitable for St. John's. This intensive project led the Committee to recommend to the Vestry that the parish hire Lively-Fulcher Pipe Organs of Rocky Mount, Virginia to build a new instrument. The new organ was installed in March 2009 and after tuning, which took several weeks, was first used at the June 14, 2009, Music Festival.  The organ was dedicated at a special Evensong service November 1, 2009, at 5:00 p.m.

Click here for more information about the new organ.  Click here to see photographs of the organ installation.

Organist Ben Hutto has served at St. John's since the spring of 2006. In addition to his Sunday duties at St. John's, Ben is Director of Performing Arts at St. Albans School for boys and the National Cathedral School for girls. Ben has served as Organist Choirmaster at Christ Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, and has served as president of national professional organizations, including the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Royal School of Church Music in America. He is a published composer and leads many workshops around the country.

Michael Lodico, born in 1981 and a native of Western North Carolina, began studying the piano at the age of six and organ at the age of 13. Lodico received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied the organ with John Weaver and Alan Morrison, harpsichord with Lionel Party, improvisation with Matthew Glandorf, and the piano with Meng Cheih-Liu and Susan Starr. He studied abroad as a Netherlands-America Foundation/Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, obtaining a Master’s degree in music, studying the organ under Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

In the summer of 2006, Lodico was appointed Director of Music of Wye Parish, Maryland, and Director of Choral Music at Saint Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington, D.C. He has participated in festivals and workshops in Canada, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United States, and completed a concert tour playing recitals at English and Scottish Cathedrals. Additionally, Lodico is a music critic with the webzine/blog www.ionarts.org, regularly covering the National Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony. He also covered opera festivals in Aix-en-Provence, France, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Brugge/Bruges Early Music Festival in Belgium.

In May 2008, Lodico was elected to the Executive Board of the District of Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and in October 2008 began working in the coordinate music department of the St. Alban’s School and National Cathedral School. Lodico enjoys riding horses, traveling, and being Music Director of WOW (Wye Operetta Workshop), which features a Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta each summer.