For one night only, Emmy-winning musician Rob Mathes will lead a star-studded Gospel worship at Christ Church Greenwich, with Marlon Saunders and the Seamless Voice Choir. The event, part of Christ Church Greenwich’s Joyful Noise service, is Sunday, Oct 25 at 5:00pm and is free and open to all.
Joyful Noise is a casual, uplifting, come-as-you-are worship service. Christ Church clergy will lead the liturgy, and the music will fill the Main Sanctuary at 254 East Putnam Avenue.
Some of the songs will be “Soon and Very Soon,” Motherless Child,” “Gotta Serve Somebody,” “This Little Light of Mind” and more.
Rob Mathes. Photo credit Bob Capazzo
Rob Mathes: a Greenwich musician with a world-class résumé
Raised in Greenwich and a Berklee College of Music alumnus, Mathes has spent his career alongside some of the biggest names in music. He co-wrote and produced Sting’s Tony-nominated musical The Last Ship and has orchestrated Bruce Springsteen albums including Wrecking Ball, High Hopes and Western Stars. He has also arranged or produced for Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Elton John, Beyoncé, Rod Stewart and Panic! at the Disco, and worked on the music for The Greatest Showman and In the Heights.
For 13 years, Mathes served as music director of the Kennedy Center Honors, earning a Primetime Emmy Award. He was also music director for the “We Are One” Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. Today he is an associate professor at Berklee NYC.
“My work with those extraordinary artists was the most important work of my life,” Mathes said. “So much of it is melodic, warm, and deeply felt music.”
Marlon Saunders and the Seamless Voice Choir
Singer, songwriter and producer Marlon Saunders served as choir director for Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life tour from 2015 to 2017.
He has worked with artists including Sting, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Michael Bublé, Cynthia Erivo and Bobby McFerrin, and has organized vocalists for Sam Smith and Andrea Bocelli.
He sang on “That’s How You Know” from Disney’s Enchanted, a Grammy-nominated song. A respected educator, Saunders has taught at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, Berklee College of Music and The New School.