Composing & Arranging for your Church Choir | Nicholas Reeves - NOVEMBER 7-9, 2025
from $75.00
We are very excited to welcome renowned composer Nicholas Reeves to St. Tikhon’s for this weekend retreat!
Over the course of three days participants will explore different models and approaches to writing music for Orthodox Church singers. This workshop is ideal for those who are currently composing or would like to know how to compose for liturgical purposes. Composers of all levels are welcome!
For this weekend retreat:
+ Nicholas Reeves will demonstrate with his own compositions and arrangements how both chant and choral music can be utilized for each person’s context & capabilities within a parish setting.
+ Composers and singers will gain insights in how different choral textures can be utilized to bring out the potential in each singer.
+ Dr. Reeves will analyze historical eras of church music
+ Demonstrations with participants will exemplify how music theory becomes practice.
In addition to demonstrating compositional techniques, Dr. Reeves will also be reviewing a select number of compositions/arrangements by retreat participants. If you are registering and would like to submit a musical work for evaluation during the weekend, please submit your piece to our Music Coordinator, Amy, at admin@stmarts.org . Dr. Reeves will consider each submission and select certain pieces that best represent the compositional techniques discussed to present them to the group as a whole.
Reeves’s works will be sung in the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, November 9 to demonstrate the main teaching goals and practical application.
Sunday 9:10AM — Divine Liturgy 11:30-1pm — Coffee Hour/Q&A with Dr. Reeves, hosted by Fr. Caleb Lewis
On Saturday a light breakfast & lunch will be provided.
Lodging is not included for this event —if you are traveling for the retreat please visit this page on our websitefor details about getting here and recommendations for accommodations. We are not able to provide airport pick-up or transport.
All retreat sessions will be held in the St. Tikhon’s Monastery Music Center (above the monastery bookstore) located at 175 St. Tikhons Rd, Waymart PA 18472. In addition to the workshop sessions, participants are welcome & encouraged to attend Divine Services at St. Tikhon’s Monastery during the weekend.
Feel free to email us with any questions about the workshop or travel plans for the weekend!
We are very excited to welcome renowned composer Nicholas Reeves to St. Tikhon’s for this weekend retreat!
Over the course of three days participants will explore different models and approaches to writing music for Orthodox Church singers. This workshop is ideal for those who are currently composing or would like to know how to compose for liturgical purposes. Composers of all levels are welcome!
For this weekend retreat:
+ Nicholas Reeves will demonstrate with his own compositions and arrangements how both chant and choral music can be utilized for each person’s context & capabilities within a parish setting.
+ Composers and singers will gain insights in how different choral textures can be utilized to bring out the potential in each singer.
+ Dr. Reeves will analyze historical eras of church music
+ Demonstrations with participants will exemplify how music theory becomes practice.
In addition to demonstrating compositional techniques, Dr. Reeves will also be reviewing a select number of compositions/arrangements by retreat participants. If you are registering and would like to submit a musical work for evaluation during the weekend, please submit your piece to our Music Coordinator, Amy, at admin@stmarts.org . Dr. Reeves will consider each submission and select certain pieces that best represent the compositional techniques discussed to present them to the group as a whole.
Reeves’s works will be sung in the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, November 9 to demonstrate the main teaching goals and practical application.
Sunday 9:10AM — Divine Liturgy 11:30-1pm — Coffee Hour/Q&A with Dr. Reeves, hosted by Fr. Caleb Lewis
On Saturday a light breakfast & lunch will be provided.
Lodging is not included for this event —if you are traveling for the retreat please visit this page on our websitefor details about getting here and recommendations for accommodations. We are not able to provide airport pick-up or transport.
All retreat sessions will be held in the St. Tikhon’s Monastery Music Center (above the monastery bookstore) located at 175 St. Tikhons Rd, Waymart PA 18472. In addition to the workshop sessions, participants are welcome & encouraged to attend Divine Services at St. Tikhon’s Monastery during the weekend.
Feel free to email us with any questions about the workshop or travel plans for the weekend!
Nicholas Reeves composes music that defies genre and conventions. He holds degrees in composition from Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music, and received a doctorate (DMA) in classical composition as a student of Richard Danielpour (2011). As a professor, he has lectured and instructed at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary as well as Rider University and is currently on faculty at Adelphi University.
His work Betty’s Notebook (2019) became “the first piece of classical music… sold on the blockchain (BBC Music Magazine).” This “one-of-a-kind sound installation (All Things Considered, NPR)” is a “groundbreaking singularity that has shattered the barrier between classical music tradition and emerging technologies (CultureMap Dallas).”
Reeves is also the co-founder of the Arvo Pärt Project, a “series of concerts devoted to the composer and panel discussions on the Eastern Orthodox spiritual traditions that feed [Pärt’s] music (NY Times).”
We are delighted to welcome Nicholas to St. Tikhon’s for this very special retreat weekend1
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