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Church Brings High Quality Music to Millwood
Church Brings High Quality Music to Millwood
By Linda Roberts
“Our goal is to make high quality music accessible to all,” said the Rev. Melanie Lewis, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Millwood, of the church’s fledgling concert series.
Now looking toward its second season of bringing talented musicians to the tiny Clarke County village, the Christ Church Concert Series offers the sounds of incredibly gifted performers, vocalists and musicians, to the pubic at no charge. A free will offering provided by the audience at each concert serves as reimbursement to the performers.
“Churches have been serving their communities for years with the gift of music and this was one of my goals when I came to Christ Church several years ago,” said Rev. Lewis. Christ Church also offers outreach to the community through its food pantry, and she sees the church as a place where people gather for support and good music.
The concert series would still be only on the church’s wish list without the involvement of music director Szymon Czerniak, who implemented the program using his talents and contacts within the music world.
“When I was called to serve Christ Church two years ago, there was no one in charge of music, so Szymon really helped us grow that program from the ground up,” Rev. Lewis said. “He is incredibly talented and versatile—as a classical pianist, a jazz pianist, and an organist and choirmaster.”
Growing up in Houston, Texas within a Polish culture where music was ever present, Czerniak was in New York City in the music business when he decided to leave for a quieter lifestyle. Winchester and its widely recognized Shenandoah University School of Music became home and the job as music director at Christ Church soon followed.
Rev. Lewis said her idea to form a concert series was launched due to Czerniak’s skill, incredible drive and knowledge of music and his contacts with people in the industry.
Trained as a classical pianist, Czerniak can be found playing the piano every Friday and Saturday evenings at L’Auberge Provencale and at Christ Church on Sunday mornings and during the week at choir practice for accomplished singers from Shenandoah University. Not one to boast about his accomplishments, his talents and numerous contacts are recognized within the industry he serves.
“We started with one concert here at Christ Church,” he said, “and it was a tremendous success…We found out that there was an appetite for this type of thing here in our community.”
For this year and into 2025, Christ Church plans a series of seven concerts on Thursday evenings, all open to the public, with the first scheduled on Sept. 5. The series will include Shenandoah Valley singers, Irish pianist Eoin Fleming, Tara McNeil of Celtic Women, pianist Alex Bernstein and Polish soprano Eliza Macewicz.
“The concert series has exceeded my expectations,” Czerniak said. “I hope it will continue for years to come.”
